Kimi ni Todoke Episode 4: Rumors

Sawako’s social learning curve grows steeper when she encounters just how vicious rumors can be amongst teenagers. Insecurity, suspicion, and confusion rise to the fore in a shift toward a darker storyline. But first, lot’s of lighthearted chibi moments!

I don’t think there is a more vicious creature on the face of the planet than a teenage girl. Sorry honey badgers, Tasmanian devils, and wolverines – you don’t even come close. The mini-arc that begins with the fourth episode depicts the darker side of high school very well and reminds me of why I would never want to be a teen again.

Things begin innocuously enough when Sawako’s parents notice she is happy. Her father’s reaction to his wife’s speculation she might have met a boy indicates he may not be ready for that. It is cute and comical in the right measures.

By the way, the above screen capture is as close to fan service as you will ever see in the show. There is no need to have fan service when you have a good story to tell. I wish more anime production teams would understand this.

Sawako lounges in the bathtub while thinking about all the good things that have happened to her. Images of Kazehaya, Chizuru, and Ayane all flash through her mind’s eye. Life can’t get much better for her, she thinks.

Improving HD Streaming

Ever start writing something and go completely blank due to interruptions? This is one of those posts. I know I had something else in mind… Oh well. So I’ll write a little bit about some tech upgrades while the brain cells attempt to fire. It isn’t even a cold morning.

A visit from my sister and her husband last month revealed that the intermittent streaming problems with the cobbled together media center PC had become an issue. Trying to properly stream the Notre Dame game in high definition became an exercise in pulling teeth. After that, continued issues with other sites, especially Crunchyroll, forced me to do some exploring and tinkering.

While the current WiFi is only 802.11g in the house, it should be sufficient for 720p rates. However, research revealed issues with even the most recent standards. Stuttering and complete stops are common complaints across the Web. Some people advocate using power line networking modules, but this rickety old farm house would be a poor place to attempt that.

Too Much Time on My Hands

Having spent nearly two decades as an online news and politics junkie, it has been quite a surprise to find out just how much time it consumed daily. I may not have quit cold turkey, but it is close to that extreme. So it is amazing how much longer days seem; I look at the clock and it is still the morning when it would normally be the afternoon.

The readjustment is still in progress, but I’ve already gotten started on some projects that were on the backburner. Okay, they were not on the backburner. They were pure speculation wedged behind some dusty books on a remote bookshelf. You know, the dark places where even dust bunnies fear to go.

One minor project is cataloguing my movie collection and putting it into a spreadsheet or database. It is a bigger task than I expected, but is well underway now. That will help keep things in order for movie reviews, not to mention when I loan the things out.

While not earthshaking in consequences or intellectual depth, it is a good example of the little things that have gone undone due to a lack of time. Now that time has opened up for me.

At least I won’t be suffering the fate shown in this classic video:

Remember when pop rock was actually good?

Fractale Episode 6: The Farthest Town

The series kicks into gear when a stop to repair the airship leads to a chance encounter with refugees, another Lost Millennium faction, and a mysterious man. Things aren’t quite what they seem when Clain learns a harsh lesson about appearances and we get further insight into the problems of Fractale’s world. UPDATED  November 2012: Fractale Reiterated continues with HD pictures and revised text.

The beginning of the episode is very reminiscent of a Studio Ghibli film as we are introduced to another remote farmhouse like Clain’s. But this one has a gigantic cobbled together antenna array in back, along with a mysterious middle aged man pounding away on it.  From his lofty perch, he spies the Granite’s airship landing in the area.

It is a lovely scene and The Farthest Town is filled with more like it. Visually, this is one of the prettier episodes in the whole series so I found myself taking far more screen captures than I needed to.  But as superficially attractive as it may be, it doesn’t lack in story depth.

Focusing on the Near

It is time to be as myopic as the vast majority of people are and focus nearly exclusively on my life. First steps were taken this morning:

1. Delete political and newspaper bookmarks
2. Delete the ridiculous amounts of emails inhabiting the inbox
3. Profit

Hey, it makes as much sense as anything these days, though I’m a little fuzzy on how step two gets to three. Forward and downward!

Ahem.

After the pain at the dentist today, a nap will be in order. Then work on the movie review I failed to get in for Halloween or maybe a revamp of an earlier review. One thing is for sure, I won’t be eating any apples today.

Health 11-7-2012

Today I have a bright and early dental appointment with multiple cavities to be filled. Early December will see the bad molar extracted; it is good that I am used to dealing with pain.

The humidifier is up and running for the season. An unexpected benefit is that I’m sleeping better thanks to it, so I wonder if I should have been using it during the drought this year. Even joint pain has been lessened since I fired it up again, which I find very odd.

Time’s Up, America

With the re-election of Barack Obama to the presidency, there is no chance of turning things around. My analysis of the race turned out to be wrong due to two factors: thinking the 2010 elections indicated a change in the electorate and believing the Democratic Party affiliation sample was overstated dramatically. Well, 2010 appears to have been a temper tantrum rather than a real desire to change course and this is no longer a center-right country, but a left wing nation. Blame will be put on Romney’s campaign, but the reality is that we really are a +6 Democrat country despite what Gallup said.

The gains by the Democrats in the House and Senate show that nationally and the Minnesota state legislature has switched back to the DFL. So much for Minnesota being in play, not to mention many other states so listed. Pot legalization passed in Colorado and Washington, while gay marriage did in Maine. The left now own the country and will continue to do so until the country fails.

The media claim there is no mandate for Obama with this close an election, but I disagree. You will be seeing a lot of executive orders bypassing Congress in the future, for humility is not a trait the President has in any quantity. So, yes, he has a mandate.

In the end, we always end up with the President we deserve as a nation, not what we as individuals may deserve. Things are going to go very badly from here on out, though it was probably unavoidable no matter the outcome of the election.

With that in mind, I call upon all who read this post to come unto Christ, for it is only through him that we can be saved – not by any mortal politician.

Locally, Greg Davids and Jeremy Miller both won with 58% of the vote in a district that went DFL for everything else. Both amendments failed easily as did Quist and Bills.

For me, this is most likely the last hurrah in national and international affairs, since I feel a deep need to get my personal house in order. I’ve been a news junkie for all my adult life and it is time for that to change. Having fought the good fight, I am content with what I have done. Time to focus on the things in my life I can control.