Calamity Strikes

Well, the busy day continues here at Villa Sternberg. Kouryou-chan was an annoying sleeper last night; crawled into bed with me and kept cuddling up because she was cold but she "didn't want the covers." The furnace seems to be struggling to keep the house warm, and I'm tempted to set up the space heater.

But she woke up okay and we eventually got moving. I made two massive pancakes for breakfast, and for lunch nutella and veggie wraps and a granola-and-yogurt mix. I got her to school on time, and then had a dentist appointment, where the pretty hygenist complimented me on my care (apparently, it's blazingly obvious to dentists when you buy a SoniCare).

While I was there, I went to put my appointment into my appointment book and my Palm crashed! I couldn't believe it. I tried to restore from backup, and managed to corrupt the backup files. I've lost everything: my appointments, my addresses, my to-dos. (Fortunately, the to-dos and relateds have been moved off to paper, but the calendar and address book where in two places, and both were wrecked in this disaster.) So, if you think I should have your phone number and address, feel free to email it to me or somethin'.

I got home and took a quick shower. While I was doing the restore, the electrician showed up, fixed the smoke detector, and then headed out. I made leftover French onion soup with naan and parmesean cheese on top (heretic!), then went to get Kouryou-chan and Yamaarashi-chan.

And, y'know, I thought that the TISM song I Rooted A Girl Who Rooted A Guy Who Rooted A Girl Who Rooted A Guy Who Rooted A Girl Who Rooted Shane Crawford was gonna be the lamest song on the album, but it's actually quite catchy. Still, these guys'll never be a hit in the States. Waaaay too topical. Don't sell out, TISM! The world needs snarks like you!

[Anime] Xenosaga

So, apparently there's this hot game for the PS 2 that I've never herd about called Xenosaga, and now there's an anime out for it. I watched Episode one, and push my buttons, I am certain, it's actually pretty good. I like the character designs, although it's obvious that the initial penciller comes from the Manga world; there's a lot of attention given to eyes and so forth, giving it a realistic sense, and even if the frames are computer filled it must take a lot of work to get that look.

It's also mixed with a lot of CGI for the background. Starships are blended with hand-drawn mecha in the battles, and it all's not quite so seamless as it could be.

The plot is straight anime S/F. Humans face a threat from an alien species, the "Gnosis," who apparently know a lot more about the nature of hyperspace than humans, and can phase through walls and get into starships. They're only attackable when they're firing their weapons or engaging in hand-to-hand. The opening episode features a human combat fleet which is heavily populated with "Vector Corporate" ships. Vector apparently makes AIs and robots, one of which is supposed to be the "ultimate anti-Gnosis combat robot."

The Gnosis have a sneak attack, and the "anti-Gnosis combat robot" (who's a babe, by the way-- hey, it's anime), which has so far not been well-tested, gets loose.

I actually like it. It's space opera on a vast scale, there's actually decent treatment of robot rights, and the super-pilot who can kill Gnosis with his teeth is an anti-robot bigot who doesn't seem like the type who'll be redeemed of his opinion by the end of the story. Oh, and the heroine AI developer is the librarian-with-glasses type. Yum!

[Anime] Kannaduki no Miko

So, I watched two episodes of Kannaduki No Miko tonight, and I can't decide if I'm going to watch any more of it or not. I mean, it's... well... It's Maria-sama ga Miteru meets Big O. It's about two girls at a private high school, one very dorky and ordinary, one very elegant and top-of-her-class, who secretly meet every day in the rose garden to have lunch together, and it seems to be headed in that yuri direction, complete with a male love rival who's also mad for said dorky girl, until giant mecha, piloted by a hottie in colorful fetishy nunware and glasses, shows up and starts blowing everything away. The male love rival suddenly shows up in his own mecha and joins the cheerfully destructive nun until he realizes that his target is his love, and then he turns on the other mecha.

At this point, my brain is going "What the flamin'..."

So, in episode two, the elegant girl (Chikane) performs a ritual seen in countless Kourosawa films as she spends a cold Autumn night out at the well, trying to wash away her unnatural desires, but it doesn't work. We get some bizarre story about how the two women are the reincarnation of two priestesses destined to save the world, and the mecha are the current incarnations of evil beings out to stop them.

It's bizarre, it looks like fun, I've got all three hours of it, and in one brief scene we get some dialogue with the other villains-- one of whom is a manga artist, one a fading pop star, and one a catgirl! Can't beat that with a stick. It's predictable-- Hmm, twelve episodes, opener, seven possibly eight villains, a filler or two, big two-ep finale, yeah. Braincandy. But hey, lesbians and mecha. It's going to be silly fun. I'll watch it.