Silly Rat, zodiacs are for kids!

I’ve always been skeptical of the general-ness of these things, but this is surprisingly accurate on a quite specific level… lol.

Free TimesSelect (from the New York Times) with an .edu email

Sign up here.

Ah, the Consumerist is such a great site.

To the tune of “Anything You Can Do”

I can rent any tux cheaper than you can
I can rent any tux cheaper than you
Fifty bucks
Forty bucks
Thirty bucks
Twenty bucks
Twenty bucks, twenty bucks? Your tux sucks!

So, is it “Clannad” or “CLANNAD”?

Since the Anime News Service posted something on the possibility of a CLANNAD series (with the movie already announced and such), I started thinking about how the movie will turn out. Needless to say, I’m a raging rabid rampaging Ican’tthinkofmorerwords Key fanatic, despite my lack of qualifications for saying so. But I do have my reservations about its ability to portray whatever CLANNAD – the game – was supposed to do.

Looking at Nagisa’s cuteness, there are no problems so far, if you ask me.

I’m referring to the AIR movie when I say something like that. While the movie was listed as some sort of personal interpretation by the director (I’m not sure exactly) its concluding scenes completely missed the point of how AIR’s small, personal story in the grand scheme of the thousand-year-curse was more about the relationship between Haruko and Misuzu. Not Yukito. I mean, seriously guys. The guy’s a crow in witnessing the final scenes. A crippled one. He’s NOT IMPORTANT. I can’t believe they missed that.

The way the story is revealed in three arcs is in my opinion part of the genius behind its construction in both game and anime formats – admittedly, I only know a little about this, but in both apparently you need to know all about “Dream” in order to live “Summer,” in order to enter “AIR.” And while “Dream” is typical bishoujo tear-jerker fare, “Summer” revealed its absolutely epic proportions, and in the end “AIR” sews it together into a personal story that was evolving the entire time, far beyond the experiences you saw in “Dream.” The movie pisses me off because it ignores this genius and makes “AIR” and extension of “Dream”’s tear-jerking, rather than the other way around, which makes the story far more powerful.

However, I can see how this was a decision made because of the movie format, even if I don’t agree with it. (I’m telling you, I would have found some way to make it work, bitches.) In even a 13 episode anime, you have around 5-6 hours to work with, rather than somewhere between a third to a quarter of that, and AIR TV’s pacing suffers even with that time allotment.

When we look at KyoAni’s currently running Kanon 2006, whose source material is far less complicated in terms of story structure, it feels a little dragged out to me. This is part of the problem in bishoujo choose-your-own-adventure games; in order to satisfy the fans, they have to cover the all the storylines in some way even though in the end they can only have the “canon” one be the conclusion. On the other hand, movies cut out all the “non-essential” ingredients to just focus on the canon conflict, so Kanon would probably make a far better movie than AIR, which has far too many of those ingredients. I would actually be very interested in seeing a Kanon animation focusing on just Ayu’s plotline. With a good dash of Nayuki mixed in, because seriously, she is just Awesome with a capital A.

In any case, while I won’t know unless a studio produces a CLANNAD series worth watching, I sort-of hope for the movie’s sake that the game did not simulate AIR’s complicated structure and follows a more traditional bishoujo plotline. There is no creative crime in singling out a single storyline if they all stem from the same source ala Kanon; I just think that it was retarded to overwrite the more poignant one because of logistical problems.

Why Japan shouldn’t apologize. And won’t if Abe doesn’t want to. Probably, anyway.

So people are up in a hubub about those war brothels. AGAIN, if I may add. Yes, you idiots, this isn’t the first time this has come up. Or even the third. Amazing, you all are SO ON TOP OF THESE CIVIL RIGHTS THINGS.

1) It’s been 60 years. While all the things Japan did are really terrible, it took a drastic reformation from its wartime foundations. Its neighbors took the brunt of the brutalities of war, but it’d be ridiculous to say that war didn’t leave a bitter taste in Japanese mouths that remains to this day as well. (Talk to the majority of Japanese about their involvement in Iraq.) Not because they lost. We shouldn’t forget a massive Pacific War and related war crimes occurred, but how long do we want to continue reminding the entire world Japan was the belligerent defeated in it? Germany’s war guilt never surfaces in the same manner in the recent decades; I’m wondering if Asians just hate each other a lot more than Europeans. Ridiculous.

2) It’s already been done before. If demands must be levied against Japan, it should be on a more individual, non-global level, so that things already signed between the parties can be mitigated without bringing too much bureaucracy into the equation. And uninformed international opinion, good grief.

3) It’s bad for East Asian cohesion. As long as people continue riling each other up on a national level for events six decades ago, they continue driving wedges between the countries that are desperately failing, or so it seems sometimes, to repair relations. I think the survivors should tell about their experiences, but the goal shouldn’t forget-and-move-on, but remember-and-move-on. Which is why I didn’t like the textbook stuff, but that’s another story.

4) Japan can afford not to. What are people going to do? Is the rest of Asia going to impose sanctions? Declare war against a power that has U.S. military bases? Is the U.S. going to sever ties to one of the most important East Asian strategic assets? Whatever the decision, the motivation for it has to come from within Japan, and unless Abe receives crushing, hell-fire flaming backlash (which I doubt) he won’t have a particular reason to back down.

I think I had a fifth point, but this already captures most of what I thought.

The post was brought to you by the letter “pseudoephedrine,” and by the number “insomnia.”

I saw this, it’s 4AM, and I can’t sleep, since I’m on speed (no, not really… allergies suck). Time for a blog entry.

Just some background. I was browsing around on the anime blogs I frequent, and this came up on Riuva. They supplied their own comments; I guess I can supply mine. You see, I’m smart and shit like that, too, and believe the value of opinions is extremely high. You can pay me afterward.

Anyway, in case you didn’t click the link, the original article’s from “best of craigslist.” I don’t like how there’s no author listed, but let’s be optimistic and assume it was written by a girl (since it says “my fellow females”) and not by a … well, geek or nerd, ’cause that would be extraordinarily, hijou ni ironic. Original article in italics, my indisputable opinions in straight text. Let’s get started. It’s dated April 2005, for reference.

“In the wide world of dating, there are many options. Do you go for the flashy guy with the smooth smile, or the dude in the corner typing away on his laptop? The following are reasons why I think my fellow females should pay more attention to the quiet geeks and nerds, and less attention to the flashy boys.”

Yes plz. Or something like that. But I can understand how the dude in the corner typing away doesn’t exactly scream, “ZOMG TEH HOTNESS!” You know, people like me would probably pick up more girls if we like… stopped typing on laptops so damn much. Yeah… Anyway, back to typing on my laptop.

“1.) While geeks and nerds may be awkward, they’re well-meaning 9 out of 10 times. That smooth dude with the sly grin and the spider hands? Wonder what HIS intentions are… plus, I’ve never had a geek guy not call me when he said he would. Score major points THERE.”

Awesome, a chance to link that Hoodwink’d clip that I love so much. Moving on… I think smooth dudes usually don’t have spider hands. They’re a lot better at that crap than we are. More on this later.

“2.) They’re useful. In this tech-savvy world, it’s great to have a b/f who can make your laptop, desktop, and just about anything else that plugs into a wall behave itself.”

True. In my experience, even the least geekiest of geeks will know a bit more than they care to admit about electronics. I’m getting really tired of the word geek, by the way.

“3.) They’re more romantic than they’re given credit for. Ok true, their idea of romance might be to make up a spiffy web-page with all the reasons why they love you, with links to pics of you and sonnets and such… but hey. It lasts longer than flowers, plus you can show your friends.”

Hahaha, what the hell! Nandeyanen!

“4.) Due to their neglected status, there are plenty to choose from. You like ‘em tall and slender? There are plenty of geeks/nerds who are. You like ‘em smaller with more meat on their bones? Got that too.”

I had to laugh at this one too. But true, I think.

“5.) They’ve got brains. Come on now, how can intelligence be a bad thing?”

Intelligence is a bad thing when used for, I dunno, evil purposes maybe? Also, problems. More on this later.

“6.) Most are quite good at remembering dates. Like birthdates and such, especially if they know it’ll make you happy. Due again to their neglected status, they’re more attentive than guys who “have more options”. Plus, with all that down time without a steady girlfriend, they’ll likely have mental lists of all the things they’d love to do once they GOT a girlfriend.”

The dates part is almost definitely true, but I’m not sure if it’s because of the reasons they list.

“7.) Sex. Yep. Sex. I’m not really familiar with this myself, but I’ve friends who’ve been intimate with geek guys and it’s raves all around. They say a virgin wrote the Kama Sutra… all that time thinking about sex, imagining sex, dreaming about sex, (they are male after all) coupled with a desire to make you happy? Use your imagination.”

See, when I see stuff like this, I have to think that women must think about it as much as guys do. Guys are just retarded or something, and have to think about it with the rest of their face as well. And sometimes their neck. Realistic male action figure, now with gawking, oogling, and neck-craning action!

“8.) They’re relatively low-maintenance. Most can be fueled on pizza, Twinkies and Mt Dew. No complicated dinners needed here, so if you’re not the best cook, eh. Can you order a pizza?”

Ehhh. I dunno about this one. I like eating nicely. But I do make it for myself. Granted, I’ve had dinners that are the equivalent of pizza, Twinkies, and the Dew, but I’d rather have something of more substance. And less… death in a convenient American-sized package. Mmmm, death.

“9.) Most frequent bars as often as slugs frequent salt mines. You won’t have to worry much about your geek guy getting his “groove” on with club hotties because, frankly, he’ll be too busy rooting around under his computer wondering where that spare cable went. You won’t have to worry about him flirting with other women because, 9 out of 10 times, he’ll zip right by them in a perfect b-line towards the nearest electronics store. I’ve seen this happen.
Me: “Eww. Victoria Secret’s Models… They’re so skinny. How is that feminine? You can see her ribs!”
Geek Guy: “ooooooo…”
Me: “Hey!” *notices he is staring lustfully towards the computer store*
Geek Guy: “What?”
Me: “Never mind…” “

I dunno about this one either; I’m pretty sure I’m pretty nerdy, and I’d say those Victoria’s Secret models are pretty hot, and by extension, some other women have to be pretty good-looking too. Maybe I’m not really a geek, although I did have to resist making an Athlon-without-heatsink joke. But again, I’ll get back to this.

“10.) Although he may not want to go to every outing with you, you can arrange swaps, as in, you’ll go to his Gamer Con dressed as an elf princess if he’ll take you to the ballet. Plus, if he doesn’t want to go someplace with you, you won’t have to worry much about what he’s up to. You’ll probably come home to find him asleep on his keyboard in a sea of Mt. Dew cans with code blinking from the screen. It’s ok. He’s used to this. Just toss a blanket over him and turn out the light.”

Speaking of elf princesses, I would love to see someone dressed up as Lafiel (who is the first elf princess that came up in my mind). Most awesome princess-character, ever. Some guy stole her character designs from Sunrise, I am most highly envious. And can we pleaaase stop with the Dew. I actually don’t know that many people that prefer it over drinks that, I dunno, actually taste good?

“11.) His friends aren’t jerks. I can’t stress this enough. You’ll more likely get “Omg! A GIRL!! Can I see?!” than “Hey hot stuff back that ass up here and let me get some grub on…” They’re awkward geeks too and will, 9 times out of 10, treat you with the utmost respect and, more than likely, a note of awe. A cute girl picked one of their clan to date? It could happen to them! Hope! Drag some of your single girlfriends over, open up a pack of Mt. Dew, crack open the DnD set and get working. Nothing impresses geek guys more than a girl who can hack-n-slash (well ok maybe if she can code… a geek can dream).”

Ehhh, I guess this might be true. I’m fiercely, rawr, loyal to my friends, but with good reason. I’ve heard of all kinds of drama shit that happens with people betraying each other over the most retarded things, and that’s yet to happen to me. Although, it might be also because I’m so awesome. *runs hand through hair* Damn!

“12.) They’re rarely if ever possessive. They trust you, so you can be yourself around them. You like to walk around the house in a ratty t-shirt for comfort? He won’t care. He does too! They won’t get pissy if you don’t wear make-up or don’t want to bother primping your hair. If you gain a few pounds, they won’t try their best to make you feel like crap.”

I can make terrible comments about this in so many ways, but I lack the enthusiasm to do anything but laugh. Not giving a crap about superficial things in at least a practical sense and geekiness does seem to be correlated, though. Take that as you will.

“13.) They’re usually very well educated. Physics majors and the like. See #5. You won’t have to listen to him blathering on about his car (ok maybe a little), he’ll have loads of other interesting things to talk about. Politics, world events, how much the chicken burgers down at the local place rock, so long as you douse them in hot sauce…”

Well, I’m an East Asian Languages and Literature major. And I don’t think our ARCH NEMESIS (make scary background noises here) smooth dudes are uneducated, either. More on this.

“14.) You’ll almost never have to hear, “Yaw dawg whazzap!!” plop out of their mouths. Unless it’s in jest. They spell properly, use correct punctuation, and are able to tell the difference between the toilet and the floor. They almost never get “wasted”, so you won’t have to worry about coming home to find him and his friends passed out on the floor amidst a pile of beer bottles. Mt. Dew cans, perhaps…”

Oh, goddamn it.

“15.) And the final reason why geeks and nerds make great boyfriends: They actually give a damn about you. Not how you look (though that’s a plus), not how skinny you are, not how much make-up you primp yourself up with, but they like you for you. That kind of thing lasts longer than “DaMN baby you got a fine ass!!!” Believe me.”

I think this person is either a geek or a girl who went out with a bunch of idiots and has now decided that geeks are cool because they generally aren’t completely retarded. Bottom line is also that I think this person is retarded. Indisputable evidence follows! *slams hands on desk and points*

The article milks the stereotype that 1) nerds and geeks are smart 2) “smooth dudes” are not and implies 3) men are either a nerd/geek or a “smooth dude.” Which makes me think that it was written by a geek, or even a male one. As a rather nerdy/geeky fellow, I can say for a fact that I’ve met a lot of geeks whose intelligence makes me want to rearrange their face with a large object traveling at high speeds, let’s say, a steel I-beam falling from the 15th floor. Like this person, if they are a geek.

Smooth guys are a lot smarter than we give them credit for, as well. They might not be able to calculate derivatives in their head and then apply them to the quantum mechanics of a black hole on-the-fly, but they’re not exactly idiots either, and no one gives a crap how capable you are in physics or C++ if you act retarded in a roomful of people. I think the “smooth dudes” the author describes don’t exist and aren’t a factor for people like me; our “rivals” are usually just as educated, and just as smart or maybe even smarter when you average out the various aspects of intelligence. And they aren’t awkward as heck, sucks to be me. Us. Whatever.

Third point. Now, in my experience, people that classify themselves as geeks aren’t all the CS and Physics people with the enormous glasses and huge pocket protectors. (What the fuck are “pocket protectors” anyway, and how do they actually “protect” your pocket? I’ve never seen one.) Now that we have things like contact lenses, gyms, and a mass media more explicitly intertwined with our lives than two actors in an adult film, I think it’s pretty difficult to discern “omg, geek!” at appearances as long as they aren’t falling to one extreme. They’re generally just people who feel relatively awkward about their external image, have a smaller group of social circles that usually run tangent or outside those of the more socially inclined (yea, you sit there for a second, and picture my awesomely terrible metaphor that defies normal thought processes). And most importantly, for 99% of situations past like, middle school (go go gadget made-up statistics), the title geek/nerd/otaku is SELF-INFLICTED, because it’s non-PC to call someone that unless you are one or some shit like that. I can’t emphasize that enough.

The article also doesn’t mention that geeks, since they are consider an “inferior” classification, will attempt to enact some change if the nerdiness discrepancy (I’m really tired of making up words) between a girl they like and themselves is too high, and move toward the other end of the spectrum slightly. This happens a lot, I think. However, since they tend to have spent the rest of their lives doing the geeky stuff, a lot of that remains, so we get people in self-denial/hiding the more nerdy parts of their lives. Not that that’s a bad thing – we all have a “social face (mask)” – but that’s how that forms, I think.

What I do agree with the article is a nerd/geek’s sense of attachment and loyalty. Because they consider relationships of any sort precious, they pursue very few, usually one at a time. There’s none of that putting themselves out there for people to find; I think opportunity falls upon them (er, us) for relationships and they try to make something out of it. Or don’t. They also tend to have a highly idealized vision of relationships which they try to live up to (and fail miserably, suckers… wait, crap); for otaku especially, who thrive on Asiatic material, there is a glut of stuff to draw from, because Asians really like their cheese despite being lactose intolerant. Lawls, I’m so funny. Anyway, so perhaps we have a double whammy with Asian otaku? On the other hand they might just like their solitary existence with their 150cm pillow with a cute girl on them. YOU THINK I’M KIDDING.

Bottom line: nerds/geeks might be good partners, but they’re not really superior to a decent “smooth dude” that has a brain, and uses it over his dick for thinking. The author lists intelligence and loyalty as traits they have, but I’m not sure non-nerds that nerds consider rivals for a chosen female’s attention are that dumb, and fighting for attention with a computer or another non-organic box is lame as hell for girls. Loyalty is a plus, but you have to consider where that stems from, and if you (both people) want to try living with and up to that, and seeing where you end up. You might be pleasantly surprised, I suppose? Or not-so-pleasantly disappointed.

Oh, and Asian otaku are the best, better than all of them. Combined. Ohhh, yeah.

Man, my language is terrible at 5AM. Note to self.

Can you feel it now? Can you feel it now? (music post)

OLIVIA – Wish

I’m too tired to make a decent comment about it, other than it’s good.

呆れているでしょう？追いかけても来ない (music post)

Tommy february6 – ♥Lonely in Gorgeous♥

Catchy, quirky, and straightforward – just like the artist, for that matter - Lonely in Gorgeous may not be your type of song. It’s even one of those songs that I’m not sure I would have liked as much as I do, if I hadn’t seen the anime it was featured in (Paradise Kiss).

That said, it’s hard to forget the decidedly simple, almost retro sound of the song. And try as you might, after you hear the song a few times you can’t help but belt out the line “JEALOUSY kamo~!” as well as the rest of the random Engrish in the song. Try it; you might even like it.

zomfg, genius

http://www.intellectualwhores.com/masterladder.html

Music post of the day when I should be doing work, YAY!

島みやえい子 – ひぐらしのなく頃に

Opening theme for the ill-fated Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, anime, voted “Most likely to be like 10,000x better if KyoAni did this instead,” which turned quite decent material into animated train wreck. Moving on.

Songs like these make Eiko Shimamiya my favorite I’ve artist. KOTOKO sings all the poppy techno, but many of Eiko’s songs have a rather unique tone, which imho manifests the most in this slightly creepy song.