Brief updates
- 09:13 Listening to TSO for, somehow, the first time this Christmas. I will *not* choke up during “Old City Bar”. #
- 11:00 @tangowildheart Yep, it’s great when the total commute = 25% of the actual work hours, isn’t it? #
- 14:00 @tangowildheart That’s right, I am unable to do math today. Possibly because I’m in the same boat of 1hr – 4hrs – 1hr. 🙁 #
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Christmas / Time
Since my ‘Net connection is still wonky, I may be reduced to watching this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special on SciFi. The horror.
On the other hand, I received a nice Who fandom Xmas present in the from of this Livejournal artwork post by _tonylee_. The image linked at the bottom cheered me greatly; the likenesses are a bit off, but it’s still my desktop wallpaper for a while. (One of them. The other wallpaper is the Apollo 8 “Earthrise” shot right now.)
As Starr works tonight and tomorrow, we finished the majority of our own gift-giving last night. Among other things, I received two hardcovers: an H.P. Lovecraft collection, and a Hitchhiker’s omnibus of all five novels and the short story. In each case, these will supersede paperbacks already on my shelf, thus retaining the integrity of the Stuff Reduction Plan. Starr, on the other hand, got a gift card for plenty of crochet yarn, and a brand-new toolbelt to aid in her remodeling projects (she’s already done a den and a bathroom). She wore the toolbelt around all evening to ‘break it in’, so I think it was appreciated.
I am messing with my co-workers today, playing Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra with album breaks provided by cuts from the “Sailor Moon SuperS Christmas For You” album.
Basic misunderstanding of the game
EDIT: Short version of the rant that was in this spot:
Many commenters on Slashdot are fools.
Now I will go and try to write something else that’s actually interesting.
The Secret Ingredient is silicon
So Christmas has begun early – as it often does in my house, for some reason. Starr got me the Wii I have been waffling about since its introduction: I wanted one, but couldn’t really justify one (which makes it an awesome gift, if you think about it).
As I mentioned on Twitter, she also picked up the Iron Chef America game, which I found surprisingly entertaining, and potentially Repetitive Stress Injury-inducing. I think it’ll go over well when we have friends over, as it’s fairly easy to pick up and a round plays fast. Plus it’s got the voice acting talents of the Chairman, Alton Brown, and Masaharu Morimoto, so you can’t go wrong.
Now that I have this new console, a quick poll for purposes of future wishlisting: what games on the Wii are the most awesome and should really be in our library?
CQ … CQ …
I technically have Internet now. “Technically” meaning that I keep losing signal temporarily. I think something’s wrong with the wireless router – even the wired machine seems to be having issues.
Anyway, I have a lot of email and online errands to catch up on. I also have many hours of housework I’ve been putting off, so we’ll see how that all goes.
Reviewer to Battloid mode
Four years after the OAV series concluded in Japan, I have finally found time to sit and watch through Macross Zero. For my part, I was disappointed in the show.
The CGI effects of the Valkyrie fighters made up a high point – the opening chapter demonstrates a drawn-out Fighter-to-Battloid transformation sequence that nearly made me drool. Sadly, the actual plot and characters brought me right back down. The series suffered from prequel-itis: I knew the Earth wouldn’t be destroyed, because that job would fall to the Zentraedi in four years. For the same reason, I knew that Roy Focker wouldn’t be killed in combat, making his dogfight duels mildly tedious.
A repeated subplot is the preservation of the ancient ways of the island people, which again felt moot with the coming holocaust; and the bad guys only received the personalities of one-dimensional psychopaths. I expect better than that in anime. One of them had the nerve to try a sympathy ploy on the audience minutes after napalming a village of non-combatant islanders. I just wanted them to hurry up and get killed in combat so we could get back to the real plot.
Oh, and late in the series, there’s the standard anime “I have taken it upon myself to decide that humanity has reached a dead end so I shall cause their destruction in order to pave the way for the next rulers of the Earth” scientist. Isn’t that one on TV Tropes yet? Boring. Lame. Move on.
Still, I feel more “caught up” on the Macross mythology now, so I’m ready to hit Macross Frontier next. As always, your mileage may vary.
