* Minx System Blog *
October 18, 2003
Bebop Den Beste
Steven Den Beste has written a lengthy and insightful review of Cowboy Bebop, number 8 on my Anime Top 25. As is his wont, where I said
And, unavoidably, each of them runs into his or her past and has to deal with it.
Den Beste runs into several dozen paragraphs of detailed analysis.
I don't agree with him entirely; I think that Faye in particular was doing better with coming to terms with what she was than he gives her credit for. But then, he's seen the series much more recently than I have, and as a more coherent whole, since I was watching it two episodes at a time as it was first released with subtitles. I mean to watch it again; number 8 out of 25 may not sound very special, but that 25 is itself selected from over 200 anime series that I have seen. And that's ignoring the 500 or so that I read about and decided not to waste my time on. So, number 8 out of 700, really.
Warning: His review gives a
lot of spoilers, so go watch the series first, and then read it. Pixy Misa says so.
Update: Steven Den Beste (!) writes in the comments:
Thank you for the kind words. I'm curious to know what you think of my second explanation.
The second explanation is the viewing of
Cowboy Bebop as a
Ronin saga, that is, the story of masterless Samurai.
This rings true to me.
Now, I haven't sat down and analysed the motivations of the characters in Bebop the way SDB has; nor have I studied Japanese history in any great depth, but I have been exposed to at least the popular version of the Bushido code and the life of the ronin (as in, masterless Samurai, not youths studying for their college entrance exams).
But when I watched
Bebop, I had a visceral understanding of Spike and Jet (and Faye and Ed too, but they are less relevant to this discussion). With Jet, this is not difficult, because his actions are not that far from what a certain Western archetype in the same position might do. Watching Spike, though, the only answer to some of the questions of
why would he do that? is that he is following a code of honour, that there are certain things he
must do to redeem this honour, and that the consequences - even his death, if need be - are less important than that these things are done.
Is it truly Bushido? I don't know; I'm no expert on Bushido, and except for the movie, it has been years since I watched Cowboy Bebop. But nothing in this interpretation strikes a wrong note to my ears.
Update: Untold Millions write in the comments that
Bebop is not a classical tragedy, lacking the necessary elements of hubris and nemesis (hubris plus nemesis gives exegesis, if I recall correctly). They (the Millions) also suggest that Spike's code of honour is not Bushido at all. Anyway, since U.S.S. Clueless (quite understandably) lacks comments, feel free to debate the point here.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
08:46 PM
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1
Thank you for the kind words. I'm curious to know what you think of my second explanation.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 18, 2003 09:22 PM (CJBEv)
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Steven Den Beste calls Cowboy Bebop, "a classic "tragedy", in the dramatic sense of that term" without identifying the crime of hubris or the action of nemisis. It is unlikely that he could find those defining elements of classic tragedy in the story. So he begins by assigning the wrong form and drifts farther afield as he speculates about the meaning of it all.
His second (and contradictory) claim that CB is a ronin epic is somewhat more plausable. Alas, Spike had never been a samurai...he was a gangster. Confusing yakusa values with bushido is as absurd as equating mafia ethos with martial values in the West (even though all four are concerned with honor).
Posted by: Arthur Fleischman at October 18, 2003 11:03 PM (7jCXK)
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Aha, the Bebop fans come out of the woodwork
Yes, your point in regards to Spike is well taken, that he has a code of honour but not the Samurai code.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 18, 2003 11:16 PM (jtW2s)
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A few things:
1) The Shinchiro Watanabe who did Cowboy Bebop and worked on Macross Plus is *not* the "Nabeshin" of Excel Saga - that's Shinichi Watanabe. Very confusing, I know. There's a hell of a lot of Watanabes in the anime industry these days. It's a common name.
2) Personally, I don't try to get too deep into the plot of Cowboy Bebop. It's sort of like doing plot studies of On the Road. I mean, yes, there is a plot, and there is some thematic resonance with the plot, but it's a placeholder. Cowboy Bebop is a pure exercise in style - in interview after interview, the production team have indicated that they approached the project in terms of an aural/visual image - "jazz in the cathedral".
In the end, the plot got away from them, mostly because the default storytelling mode in the modern anime industry is serial, rather than episodic.
Posted by: Mitch H. at October 19, 2003 12:55 AM (tVSJJ)
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The Freeza Saga in DBZ: An argument for the bicameral parliamentary system? Discuss.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 19, 2003 01:03 AM (jtW2s)
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Watanabe is known as Nabeshin on a purely personal level ... never on a professional level. That was the one thing I wanted to clear up but couldn't be bothered writing mail about.
Posted by: Alex at October 19, 2003 02:49 AM (IPR3A)
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I think Steve's analysis of Jet is very close if not right on the money...I disagree with a few of the other things though.
Spike's statement "To prove I'm alive" is his most important line in the series. I disagree with Steve's call that Faye doesn't understand what that means...it obviously means that life on Bebop (which includes Faye) are not important. Basically, Spike is miserable.
I agree with Jet following a type of bushido, but Spike doesn't follow that type of honor system. I think Spike placed all his eggs in the love basket and lived to meet Julia...then after she died, he died to meet Julia. I think his last smile was the thought of being together with Julia once again.
Traditionally, the "kataki" is extremely important to Japanese. This means if someone takes what's dearest to you, not allowing them to live unharmed bumps up to the top of your priority list. Spike, on his way to joining Julia, took out Julia's kataki. Spike won big time in his final gamble.
Posted by: Ken at October 19, 2003 07:38 AM (oOiGs)
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Wow, this is like reading a conversation written in Klingon or something.
What the heck IS Anime anyway? Movies? TV series? Whenever I think of Anime I think of Speed Racer. Guess I'm just hopelessly out of the loop on this stuff.
Posted by: Tuning Spork at October 19, 2003 11:23 AM (tbCA7)
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Re: Turning Spork
Anime in is Japanese animation (both TV series and movies). Speed Racer is over 30 years old, so you need to get a more updated frame of reference by watching something newer. Cowboy Bebop the series in question is an excellent starting point to modern anime. Watch it, and come back for discussion.
Posted by: BigFire at October 20, 2003 07:49 AM (qWZ1s)
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I've read Den Beste's comments to do not find them out of line...based on his point of view. However, I think that there is one other angle to evaluate Bebop by: Hong Kong cinema.
I have been a serious fan of that genre for almost as long as I've been an anime fan. Perhaps I'm imagining things, but I plenty of themes/storylines/hero-villian interactions in Bebop that I have seen before...in HK films.
If John Wu would do anime, it would resemble Bebop. That's not say there aren't Japanese cultural themes in Bebop...there are. But the plot dynamics, and the characters have HK roots.
That's my 2 cents...fire away.
Posted by: CPT. Charles at October 22, 2003 02:11 AM (Hgn8p)
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What Is Wrong With People?
I had to reconfigure the corporate firewall yesterday to allow access to a web-based application.
"Why", I hear you ask, "did you need to reconfigure the firewall, if this application is, as you say, web based?"
Because the web-based application is being run over Citrix.
Yes. Really.
For the non-technical reader, this is like... Um, help me out here, my analogy-generator seems to be broken... Like you need to get from New York to L.A., so you buy your airline ticket and then drive to
L.A. airport, where you then rent a car.
Or something. Anyway, it's really, really dumb.
Update: Here's another try at an analogy:
You want to go get some lunch at the drive-through, so you go out and buy a truck, and then you put your car on the back of the truck, and when you get to the drive-through you unload the car and buy your lunch, and then you load the car back onto the truck and drive back to wherever you were.
Whereupon you find that they left out the fries which are
the best part of the meal dammit!
In other words, it's totally pointless and stupid and makes everything harder for all involved, wasting huge amounts of time and money in the process and delivering a product which is greatly inferior to what you would have had if you'd just done the obvious thing in the first place.
In a word: Dumb.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
01:42 PM
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That sounds really really dumb.
Posted by: Susie at October 18, 2003 03:17 PM (0+cMc)
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Hmmm. Yeah, that's hard to dumb down. Normally, I can use a car comparison of some type, but that one's a little difficult.
Posted by: Victor at October 18, 2003 10:03 PM (FNHVL)
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How about: You want to go get some lunch at the drive-through, so you go out and buy a truck, and then you put your car on the back of the truck, and when you get to the drive-through you unload the car and buy your lunch, and then you load the car back onto the truck and drive back to wherever you were.
Whereupon you find that they left out the fries which are the best part dammit!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 18, 2003 10:25 PM (jtW2s)
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Wow - running a web app over Citrix. Why in the world would anyone do that? And, if someone knows the URL of the web app, can't they just get to it directly anyway?
Or is the firewall configured to open the Citrix ports to the outside, but not the web/app server?
I could maybe see it for security reasons, if you didn't trust that the web server wouldn't be hacked, but there are certainly better solutions for that.
As a professional web app developer, this really seems like a wierd design.
Posted by: Pete Nelson at October 19, 2003 02:00 AM (catT0)
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Came over from Clueless due to the Cowboy Bebop (agreed, great show! SDB is dead on with his 2nd explanation) and saw the comment about Citrix. We use it too, but in a WAN, not a web app. All I can say is there are some weird network designers out there.. but there are weirder bosses that make impossible demands that techs have to solve with bizarro solutions. Stuff like this occurrs because someone had only one half of a clue about technology.
Posted by: ubu at October 19, 2003 02:12 AM (lErvn)
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New Blog Showcase
My picks this week are Beth (because she likes LeeAnn) and David, because a conservative on the left coast needs all the help he can get. And Alex and ChefQuix are worth a look too.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
12:25 PM
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Hurray!!! You are the second axis blog (other than Jen, who votes every week) I have seen vote in this week's new blog showcase. Finally! Frankly, we're getting tired of carrying this whole rivalry thing all by ourselves....
Posted by: Susie at October 18, 2003 03:22 PM (0+cMc)
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Heh.
But yeah, shame on me for not voting lately. Bad Pixy!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 18, 2003 06:19 PM (jtW2s)
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I do so love being a reason.
Posted by: LeeAnn at October 20, 2003 01:07 AM (HxCeX)
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I couldn't find left coast conservative on the list of nominees for this week--was gonna toss him a vote.
Posted by: Susie at October 20, 2003 01:59 AM (0+cMc)
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October 17, 2003
Do Not Grass On The Flying Foxes
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
04:34 PM
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Thank goodness! I thought you'd gone "batty".....
(Sorry--couldn't resist!)
Posted by: Susie at October 18, 2003 02:37 AM (0+cMc)
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Someone Kicked the Plug Out...
... on the Blogosphere. Again.* Of course, mu.nu still works, but now I've read everything there. Maybe I should go back and add some comments.
*
Looks like another outage at Hosting Matters.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
12:22 PM
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....or you could work on the forum?????.......
Posted by: Susie at October 17, 2003 12:28 PM (0+cMc)
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I'm on the west coast and I think someone must have blown a fuse on the east coast. I can't access hardly anything in the eastern time zones.
Posted by: azygos at October 17, 2003 12:28 PM (tXLMf)
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Maybe California finally slid into the ocean?
I have absolutely no idea where the mu.nu server is these days, but it is working, so it's probably not underwater.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 17, 2003 12:33 PM (LBXBY)
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I can't get Bill, Paul, or some of my other regular reads, though Typepad seems to be working and *gasp* blogspot is available!
Posted by: Susie at October 17, 2003 12:56 PM (0+cMc)
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Frank's down! Kevin the Wiz is unreachable! Auugh! It's like munu is Harry Belefonte and blogspot is Inger Stevens....there's no one else left alive!!!!!
Posted by: Susie at October 17, 2003 02:02 PM (0+cMc)
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James Lileks and Steven Den Beste are still alive - they both have their own servers. But the overall picture is pretty bleak.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 17, 2003 02:40 PM (LBXBY)
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Or is California on the west coast nowadays?
"West. No, your other west."
Sigh. Maybe everything except California finally slid into the ocean.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 17, 2003 02:42 PM (LBXBY)
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Susie, please don't compare Mu.nu to Belafonte. I don't know whether to accuse blacks of not being black enough, or sing...
Deyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy-oh!
Posted by: Ted at October 17, 2003 07:32 PM (2sKfR)
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October 16, 2003
Please Walk On The Grass
But don't touch the Flying Foxes.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
11:45 PM
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1
That's too deep for me.
Posted by: Susie at October 17, 2003 09:52 AM (0+cMc)
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Don't feel bad. Me too.
But, I'll do it. And, not.
Posted by: Stevie at October 17, 2003 11:21 AM (Chbec)
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Might it be Monty Python?
Posted by: Stevie at October 17, 2003 11:22 AM (Chbec)
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October 15, 2003
Photos, Day Two
Ash discovers a hitherto unknown Pokemon.
Chiyo and Kagura from Azumanga Daioh. The management, etc, etc.
Pengi-san fall down!
I am not Rei from Sailor Moon. I am
not Inu-yasha. Do you see any doggy-ears? Well, I had ears yesterday, but...
Ruri Hoshino from Nadesico. Baka.
Sakura from Naruto.
Um, some chick from Final Fantasy singing a song. Nice costume, tho'.
Lain, Navi, and Man in Black from Serial Experiments Lain. There was another Lain, also in teddy-bear pyjamas; unfortunately my photos of the teddy-bear battle-to-the-death didn't come out.
Girl-type Ranma, just for Daniel.
Posh Spice... Uh, that is, Umi from Magic Knight Rayearth.
Left to right: Seras Victoria from Hellsing - accessories sold separately (in the series, she carries a 30mm cannon as a sidearm); Vash from Trigun; no flaming idea; Yuna's
mother from Final Fantasy.
I don't know who this is, but it's still a cute girl in a yukata with a parasol.
Great Director Nabeshin from Excel Saga takes over the stage.
Sakura from... Naruto? Funny, we had no Sakuras from Card Captor Sakura this year.
No Face from Spirited Away.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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The only one I recognize is no face. Cool costumes, though..does Australia celebrate Halloween earlier than we do in America?
Posted by: Susie at October 15, 2003 03:31 AM (0+cMc)
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Halloween is pretty much non-existent in Australia...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 15, 2003 03:51 AM (jtW2s)
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No! Where do Australian children get their stockpiles of candy to last them until Santa fills their stockings?
Posted by: Susie at October 15, 2003 04:32 AM (0+cMc)
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Yeah! Thanks for the Ranma pic.
And No Face - good likeness
Posted by: Daniel at October 15, 2003 05:49 AM (Oc6V9)
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Maybe they get more at Easter and make it laaaaast.
Bigger chocolate bunnies and such.
Posted by: LeeAnn at October 17, 2003 12:23 AM (HxCeX)
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I think it would get mighty stale by then...
Posted by: Tatterdemalian at October 18, 2003 05:27 AM (QwOBf)
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Cute girl in a yukata looks like Tomoe from Rurouni Kenshin.
Posted by: *blink-blink* at October 24, 2003 01:10 AM (mChh4)
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Bad News
Andrew Orlowski at The Register has a remarkably condescending and ill-informed article about the effect of blogs (and trackbacks in particular) on Google searches.
The problem is that Google ranks pages on the number of links it finds to them, and blogs are highly linked. Moreover, Google isn't bright enough to exclude trackback pages, which contain only capsule - very capsule - summaries of the posts themselves, and are generally useless to anyone not interested in the mechanics of trackbacks themselves. They are quite easily filtered... It's just that Google doesn't.
Of course, Orlowski sees
concerted attacks to undermine [Google's] integrity from link farms and webloggers
but then he's from San Francisco and has probably been infected by whatever it is they suffer from there.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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LOL! "concerted attacks"! Hmmm....Linkmistress of Chaos has just taken on a whole new meaning....
Posted by: Susie at October 15, 2003 03:37 AM (0+cMc)
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so the Ping Tsunami is a WMD?
Posted by: Ted at October 15, 2003 03:56 AM (bov8n)
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That is exactly why I started a blog... to undermine integrity. I had my little hat with the light on it, and a canary, and the cutest tiny pickaxe...and I met these guys, there were seven of them, kind of short but a girl can't be too choosy these days. Werid names, too. But they said they already HAD a girlfriend, some lazy tart who sleeps all day. She's probably on some kind of drugs.
A hi-ho.
Posted by: LeeAnn at October 17, 2003 12:26 AM (HxCeX)
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October 14, 2003
Oh, Yes...
The Audience
See what I mean about the girl:guy ratio?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
08:58 PM
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Photos, Day One
Bohemian Fire Drill
The Anime Fans decamp onto the lawn as flames fail to engulf the building.
Batgirl! Her costume was fetchingly low-cut at the back, with little bat wings... Which I utterly failed to get a picture of.
The Fire Brigade arrives! We are saved!
Cosplay Contest
A rather good Vash the Stampede from Trigun, complete with cat.
Our bat-girl, showing off for the crowd.
Left to right: Umi, Hikaru and Fuu from Magic Knight Rayearth do their famous Dance Dance Revolution routine.
Miyu (right) and Larva (left) from Vampire Princess Miyu.
You need Yu-Gi-Oats!
Four girls and a guy from Gravitation.
Alucard from Hellsing.
One of the girls from Martian Successor Nadesico... I forget which one. A "bridge bunny".
Two of the girls from Azumanga Daioh sing Chiyo-chan's song. Aaaah! Cuteness attack!
Hey, we're on the big screen!
Um... Dejiko and Rabi-en-Rose from Digi Charat. Management takes no responsibility for any side-effects that may ensue.
The boy and girl (whose names I have utterly forgotten) from Hayao Miyazaki's
Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Really nice costumes, these, simple but effective.
Just another random Yuna.
San from Miyazaki's
Princess Mononoke.
Day two to follow...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
08:50 PM
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Good pictures, thanks! Mookie has been taping episodes of Trigun lately, and I've heard of Princess Mononoke.
Posted by: Ted at October 14, 2003 09:40 PM (bov8n)
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Yay, photos! :-) Thanks, Pixy.
Posted by: Jennifer at October 14, 2003 10:38 PM (rZmE1)
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Where are all the Ranma 1/2 costumes?
Posted by: Daniel at October 14, 2003 11:29 PM (Oc6V9)
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There was only one Ranma, and that's in day two.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 15, 2003 01:13 AM (jtW2s)
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Once again, I only recognize one, and that's Princess Mononokee. Guess I'm anime illiterate.....
Posted by: Susie at October 15, 2003 03:35 AM (0+cMc)
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US Politics 102
Another point Den Beste makes is that the two-party system is self-sustaining, although really this is true only as long as the politicians care more about winning than about issues. Compare the relatively stable two-party systems of the Anglosphere with the fractious factionalism found in many European states.
It also depends on the population being essentially homogenous; that there is no large group that truly votes as a bloc. This seems to be becoming more the case rather than less; labour, for example, long the bastion of the left-wing parties, has become rather less of a certainty now that a majority of the public have become shareholders in large corporations.
Marx wanted to resolve the class war by reducing the bourgeoisie to the proletariat. Capitalism has achieved the same end by raising the proletariat to the bourgeoisie. Today, we are all capitalist fat cats, and proud of it. (Except for the self-hating LLLs, who nobody cares about anyway.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
03:40 PM
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You are wise, Pixy Misa, and I salute you!
Posted by: Susie at October 14, 2003 05:34 PM (0+cMc)
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Don't worry, I'll get back to my usual nonsense soon!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 14, 2003 06:27 PM (LBXBY)
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Cat-girls in tentacle bondage discussing economics. Can it get any better than that?
Posted by: Ted at October 14, 2003 09:53 PM (bov8n)
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Er, I have to take issue with the notion that the American two-party system relies on a homogeneity of population. Den Beste himself points out that certain voting blocs tend towards homogeneity in favor of one of the coalition-parties or another: for instance, the black vote, or the segregationist vote. One of the salient characteristics of the midcentury Democratic party was its bizarre straddling of both the black and segregationist voting blocs, the political power that resulted from those two elements, and the collapse of Democratic dominance when the segregationists bailed in the late Sixties.
I would argue, in fact, that there's more evidence that homogeneous populations tend to result in one-party democracies like Japan and the LDP.
Posted by: Mitch H. at October 15, 2003 02:12 AM (tVSJJ)
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Yes, there is something to that. Um, but it's past my bedtime.
We agree though that these groups tend towards voting as a bloc, at least today; your point on the history of the Democrats is very interesting and not something I was aware of.
Japanese politics are somewhat... odd, and a complex subject in their own right.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 15, 2003 02:45 AM (jtW2s)
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I guess I should elaborate on that black/segregationist thing. To be more accurate, it was the Northeast urban black vote, and the Southern segregationist vote. The actual black vote in the South (such that it was) was heavily Republican up to the early Sixties. Of course, due to various segregationist gerrymanders, poll taxes, etc, the Southern black vote didn't matter in the general course of things. In the Northeast, the black move into the cities produced the usual political-machine ethnic vote. Most (although not all) of the political machines were Democratic, and they absorbed the black migrants like any other immigrant minority - crankily, grudgingly, but effectively.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act overturned the apple cart something fierce. The segregationists flipped out, and the Nixonian-pragmatist-asshole wing of the Republican party rolled out their "southern strategy". Southern blacks joined their Northern counterparts, passing the segregationists in the night, as it were.
The Democrats have only won three of nine presidential elections since then, all of them while fielding populist Southern governors as candidates.
Posted by: Mitch H. at October 15, 2003 04:32 AM (tVSJJ)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 15, 2003 12:20 PM (LBXBY)
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US Politics 101
Steven Den Beste has a great post up explaining American politics to us beleagured non-Americans.
Two things have always struck me as slightly odd about American elections: first, the very public primary elections (particularly with respect to the current line-up of Democrat candidates). In Australia, the leaders of the various political parties are decided by the party members, and the leader of winning party becomes Prime Minister. (With the Liberals in coalition with the Country Party, the leader of the Country Party traditionally becomes Deputy Prime Minister).
Interestingly enough, the debate about Australia becoming a republic (instead of a constitutional monarchy as it is today) was squashed some years ago when a referendum showed that a majority of Australians rejected the idea. In fact, this was largely because the pollies (politicians) wanted to choose the President themselves, while the people wanted a popularly elected President. So for now, we still have a queen (Queen Elizabeth is Queen of Australia quite independently of being Elizabeth II of UKoGBaNI).
The other confusing thing is the apparent rag-bag of policies that make up the Democrat and Republican party platforms. For either party, half the items seem to bear little relation to, well, anything. This is explained by the fact that the parties are de facto coalitions of numerous unnamed smaller parties, whose policies and goals are far from uniform. So the Republicans have the NeoCons and the economic conservatives, who I largely agree with, and the Religious Right, who from an Australian perspective appear to be completely bonkers, but who remain something of a political force in America. The closest thing we have here is Fred Nile's Christian Democrats, who have pretty much zero influence in anything. (And are viewed as being completely bonkers by most Australians.)
The other big - but more subtle - difference is that voting in Australia is preferential rather than a simple "first past the post". This means that if you want to vote for a fringe candidate - say Ted, who supports model rocketry but has little chance of winning - you can direct your preferences to another candidate - say, Susie. All the votes are tallied, and if Ted comes last, the preferences on those votes are then distributed. If most of Ted's fans are also Susie fans, then Susie picks up most of Ted's votes. Which means that a third-party candidate like Perot or Nader would not have the effect of splitting support for their nearest political allies.
Whether this is good or bad is too complicated a question for me to ponder during my lunch break.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
02:40 PM
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It sounds too complicated for me at any time! (But thanks for voting for me, even if I was your second choice...)
Posted by: Susie at October 14, 2003 03:38 PM (0+cMc)
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It's the rockets... Gotta vote for the rockets!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 14, 2003 03:50 PM (LBXBY)
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There seemed to be an initial groundswell of support for the Moral Majority until folks realized just how fanatical and uncompromising they actually were. 'My way or the highway' doesn't leave much wiggle room for those on the cusp.
The redirection of votes is interesting. How far does this extend? I mean, is it a one-time thing just for the original last place finisher, or do they keep doing it until you end up with the top two?
Posted by: Ted at October 14, 2003 09:51 PM (bov8n)
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All the way.
You can number the candidates any way you like (as long as the numbers go from 1 to N) and the lowest-polling candidate in each round will get knocked out and the next level of preferences applied.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 14, 2003 10:20 PM (jtW2s)
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Wow. There was a comedian who suggested that we should vote by picking several that we didn't want from the list of candidates. Whoever was least hated got the job.
Posted by: Ted at October 15, 2003 04:00 AM (bov8n)
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October 13, 2003
Drat Those Mice!
They ate all my photos!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
11:51 PM
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Posted by: Jennifer at October 14, 2003 11:59 AM (PbT+r)
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Um, no. Just my random excuse generator at work.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 14, 2003 12:00 PM (LBXBY)
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Don't make me post boring pictures of trains on my site just to make up for the lack of pics here.
Posted by: Jennifer at October 14, 2003 01:06 PM (rZmE1)
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Pictures of trains! Yay!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 14, 2003 02:56 PM (LBXBY)
5
Who am I, you wonder? That stripy green haired kid in the white Chinese top and green pants with cat-ears - you showed that picture of me to me on the bus. Heh, told you I'd visit =^.^=
Now, get every photo of me you have and BURN it.
That is all. Have a nice day. =^.^=
Posted by: Zed-sama at October 14, 2003 04:40 PM (dz4HP)
6
I'll second the train pictures...my dad used to drag us to the rail yards every chance he got (though sometimes he took us fishing in the Des Plaines river, to spots where his dad used to take him).
Posted by: Susie at October 14, 2003 05:38 PM (0+cMc)
7
Hi Zed-sama! You make a great cat! And I have the pictures to prove it! And I will post them!!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 14, 2003 06:28 PM (LBXBY)
8
Trains? I like trains. Rocket powered trains, oooooo...
Posted by: Ted at October 14, 2003 09:43 PM (bov8n)
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October 12, 2003
Animania, Day Two-ish
Just back from day two of Animania. Fortunately, the rain held off until the convention was over. Unfortunately, it didn't hold off until I got home...
News and pictures once I'm dry and have had dinner and maybe a nap and caught up on blogging elsewhere and such.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:53 PM
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1
Gosh, you're acting like you have a life or something....
(reminder: munu forum.....)
Posted by: Susie at October 12, 2003 09:50 PM (0+cMc)
2
We want lots of pictures of the cute girls there. Dressed in weird costumes. Or not, if they're cute. You know what? Post 'em all, and we'll have a vote. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Posted by: Ted at October 12, 2003 11:52 PM (2sKfR)
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Another Reason to Vote Republican
Apparently, the fashion among young women to wear very (sometimes very) low-cut pants is all GWB's fault. All that and a Right Wing Death Beast too!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
02:47 AM
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1
Well, as the old adage goes: as the skirts go up so does the economy. Here's t' hopin'!
Posted by: Tuning Spork at October 12, 2003 10:57 AM (THq6X)
2
The thing is, not everyone who wears the low-cut jeans...should.
(Pixy, not to be a pest, but can you do that thing we talked about? Wonderin' if my follow-up e-mail got lost, is all.)
Posted by: Jennifer at October 12, 2003 03:37 PM (0SrUW)
3
Jen, I thought we weren't going to mention the... thing. But I'll make sure it happens for you tonight.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 12, 2003 06:51 PM (jtW2s)
4
Wow! Did I stumble into an adult chat room?????
Posted by: Susie at October 12, 2003 09:51 PM (0+cMc)
Posted by: Jennifer at October 13, 2003 03:57 AM (rZmE1)
Posted by: Jennifer at October 14, 2003 08:55 AM (rZmE1)
7
I fell asleep
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 14, 2003 08:55 AM (jtW2s)
8
That's okay. I was just asking if maybe...tonight now. I know you're a busy Pixy.
Posted by: Jennifer at October 14, 2003 09:52 AM (0SrUW)
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October 11, 2003
Animania, Day One
Today was day one of Animania 2003, Sydney's only dedicated Anime convention. Sure, there are things like Comicfest and Supanova, which are larger and have lots of anime content, but Animania is different because it is fan-driven and devoted entirely to anime.
Well, and Street Fighter and Dance Dance Revolution... But we'll ignore that for the moment.
I missed the first couple of hours, since today was a Saturday, and I never get up on Saturday mornings if I can help it, and because Animania is being held this year at the University of New South Wales* which is miles from anywhere and rather a nuisance to get to.**
But I did get there in time to see
Haibane Renmei, which I was quite enjoying, right up until the Bavarian Fire Drill. Complete with real fire engines! If you want to see what an anime convention looks like decamped onto the lawn outside the Scientia*** at UNSW, I've got pictures and will be posting them tomorrow.
Then, after the building spectacularly failed to burn down, back inside for a rather good panel on model making from an artist who's worked on the recent Star Wars and Matrix films, and then the Cosplay (costume) competition, the highlight of any anime convention.
One of the nice things about anime, as opposed to my other hobbies such as programming, computer and role-playing games, and science fiction, is that it is very popular with the other half of the species - you know, girls. In fact, the audience looked to me like about a 60:40 girl:guy ratio. Lots of cute girls, and even better, lots of cute girls in anime costumes.
Lots of photos of the cosplay contest, of course, and I'll post the best ones after the second round tomorrow. My favourite of the day was the girls from Magic Knight Rayearth doing their DDR routine. Cool!
The day ended with
Who's Line is it Anime, a series of improvisational comic skits with an anime theme. It was during this that I started wondering why so many of the female contingent kept referring to
yowies... Until I realised that I had never heard the word
yaoi spoken before.
Anime... Truly something in it for everyone.
*
A.k.a. Kenso Kindy, yes.
**
I studied there for three years. Trust me on this.
***
That wasn't there fifteen years ago!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
11:39 PM
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1
Found your site from another blog and wanted to see where I could find more info
Posted by: yaoi at August 07, 2004 06:53 PM (KI8Vt)
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October 10, 2003
Feetball? What feetball?
The Rugby World Cup kicks off in Sydney this evening, so things around here are a bit...
Well, normal. Except for a greater than usual number of people sporting bright yellow hair, if you didn't know the World Cup was on, you wouldn't... Know it was on.
Carn' the [Who's our side, again?
The Wallabies. — Ed.] Carn' the Wobblies!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:00 PM
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1
I tried to email you, but wonder if I am winding up in your email bin again with other spam!
Posted by: H at October 10, 2003 09:42 PM (tdh2z)
2
I wish I could go there! I so do love Australia!!!
Posted by: Timothy at October 10, 2003 10:47 PM (G3NcU)
Posted by: Nick at October 10, 2003 10:48 PM (G3NcU)
4
Stay far away from the scrum---you're too valuable to Munuvia! (and your Readers, of course....)
Posted by: Susie at October 11, 2003 05:36 AM (0+cMc)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 11, 2003 09:37 AM (jtW2s)
6
Australia. But not as decisively as one might expect... if one knew anything about feetball.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 11, 2003 09:43 AM (jtW2s)
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I hope carn' is a good thing.
Posted by: LeeAnn at October 11, 2003 01:10 PM (HxCeX)
8
It's Strine for "come on".
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 11, 2003 06:28 PM (jtW2s)
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Liberals Whine, Seethe
Via Silflay Hraka, this:
But that's because you're a moron, easily distracted by sparkly lights and shiny objects. You were really voting to let small, inherently undemocratic groups run your state all the time, forever. The fact that you thought you were doing the former when in fact you were doing the latter suggests that you would have been more helpful in the governance of your state by hurling yourself off the Golden Gate Bridge and smacking into the bay below with a nice, bone-powdering swack. In addition to clearing out four million bottom-feeders from an already-overpopulated state, California might still have a government still nominally beholden to voters, instead of through special-interest control by mob rule proxy.
Which would be a fine rant, if the writer weren't, y'know, an
idiot imbecile.
Tell me again how Gray Davis was our last bastion against the pernicious influence of special-interest groups?
Meanwhile, closer to (my) home,
Tim Blair points us to this:
I sometimes think that people should be obliged to pass an examination in economics, history, geography, social science, current affairs and politics in order to earn the right to vote. Nothing against our friend Arnie, of course, who is a very worthy gentleman and probably not guilty of all the scurrilous things of which he has been accused. Yes, a minimum 50 per cent pass in the afore-mentioned subjects should be required for anyone to be given the title voter.
A thoroughgoing sleazebag has been booted from office after a budget blowout of mind-boggling proportions? Must be because the voters are idiots.
At least it's nice to see a couple of lefties with a basic grasp of spelling and grammar for a change.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:52 AM
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"Which would be a fine rant, it the writer weren't, y'know, an idiot."
I resent being called an idiot. I prefer to be called an imbecile.
Posted by: John Scalzi at October 10, 2003 09:03 AM (M94cj)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 10, 2003 09:36 AM (jtW2s)
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October 09, 2003
Alas, EMusic
Remember EMusic? For just $9.95 per month, you got unlimited downloads from their library of over 17,000 independent albums, about 250,000 MP3s. No DRM nonsense, either.
No more.
Now, for the same great price, you get... 40 downloads. 40 MP3s. Per month. Well, it's probably not the most amazingly bad offer ever made, but it's pretty damn sucky. I'm cancelling my account.
After first downloading the rest of They Might Be Giants' ouvre, that is.
And to add insult to injury:
We're sorry but our messageboards are temporarily unavailable. Stay tuned, the messageboards will available again soon.
Yeah, right.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
09:02 PM
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Liberals Seethe, Whine
Surprisingly enough* many California Democrats want to recall Governor Arnold. Well, hey, it's your constitutional right to try.
But is there just a touch of hypocrisy here given that just one day ago the whole idea of a recall was "anti-democratic"? Guess things look different when you lose.**
You'd think that a party named
Democrat would be in favour of democracy, wouldn't you? Truth in Advertising brings you the
Democrat Only When It Suits Us And To Hell With Consistency Party.
Don't mind me, I'm just gloating. I don't know if Arnold will make a good governor. I'm just happy to see the liberals get kicked where it hurts... Wherever that might be, since they don't have any.
*
That is, not surprising at all.
**
Ha-ha!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
09:51 AM
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Posted by: Susie at October 09, 2003 10:08 AM (0+cMc)
2
I'm not sure about this but I think this post may have an error.
Shouldn't the first star say not suprisingly instead of not suprising?
Posted by: Ben at October 18, 2003 11:00 PM (pDTGy)
3
Hmm... I take your point, but I think it works well enough as it is. (It's not a typo, anyway, I did mean to write it that way.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 18, 2003 11:04 PM (jtW2s)
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Chiyo and Kagura from Azumanga Daioh. The management, etc, etc.
Pengi-san fall down!
I am not Rei from Sailor Moon. I am not Inu-yasha. Do you see any doggy-ears? Well, I had ears yesterday, but...
Ruri Hoshino from Nadesico. Baka.
Sakura from Naruto.
Um, some chick from Final Fantasy singing a song. Nice costume, tho'.
Lain, Navi, and Man in Black from Serial Experiments Lain. There was another Lain, also in teddy-bear pyjamas; unfortunately my photos of the teddy-bear battle-to-the-death didn't come out.
Girl-type Ranma, just for Daniel.
Posh Spice... Uh, that is, Umi from Magic Knight Rayearth.
Left to right: Seras Victoria from Hellsing - accessories sold separately (in the series, she carries a 30mm cannon as a sidearm); Vash from Trigun; no flaming idea; Yuna's mother from Final Fantasy.
I don't know who this is, but it's still a cute girl in a yukata with a parasol.
Great Director Nabeshin from Excel Saga takes over the stage.
Sakura from... Naruto? Funny, we had no Sakuras from Card Captor Sakura this year.
No Face from Spirited Away.
See what I mean about the girl:guy ratio?
The Anime Fans decamp onto the lawn as flames fail to engulf the building.
Batgirl! Her costume was fetchingly low-cut at the back, with little bat wings... Which I utterly failed to get a picture of.
The Fire Brigade arrives! We are saved!
Cosplay Contest
A rather good Vash the Stampede from Trigun, complete with cat.
Our bat-girl, showing off for the crowd.
Left to right: Umi, Hikaru and Fuu from Magic Knight Rayearth do their famous Dance Dance Revolution routine.
Miyu (right) and Larva (left) from Vampire Princess Miyu.
You need Yu-Gi-Oats!
Four girls and a guy from Gravitation.
Alucard from Hellsing.
One of the girls from Martian Successor Nadesico... I forget which one. A "bridge bunny".
Two of the girls from Azumanga Daioh sing Chiyo-chan's song. Aaaah! Cuteness attack!
Hey, we're on the big screen!
Um... Dejiko and Rabi-en-Rose from Digi Charat. Management takes no responsibility for any side-effects that may ensue.
The boy and girl (whose names I have utterly forgotten) from Hayao Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Really nice costumes, these, simple but effective.
Just another random Yuna.
San from Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke.
Day two to follow...