Rilina

Another episode of Mouryou no Hako has finally been fansubbed. W00t! I wish more people were watching this with me, but I have accepted that this is a series with a pretty niche audience. Instead of giant robots you get psychological mysteries and long and amazingly not boring scenes of the detectives sitting around the table dissecting the evidence. On the other hand, it is wonderfully atmospheric and does feature psychics and heads in boxes!

( Spoilers )

And now I begin the wait for episode 10!

I have been using this holiday weekend to catch up on my anime watching and blogging, and tonight I finished watching the anime tv series Eden of the East. Back when this first started airing, it was my favorite thing from the new season. The production values were nice, and it was telling a story that was just a little bit off the beaten track. All that remained true to the end, but I don't think the series will go down as one of my all-time favorites. I found it intellectually interesting, but I never was the least bit emotionally invested in the characters or plot.

It probably doesn't help, mind you, that episode 11 offers very little plot resolution. There are two movie sequels planned, and the big mysteries will evidently be addressed there. They certainly weren't here.

I know a couple other people were watching this at one point - what did you think of the ending, if you got that far?

Why didn't anyone tell me that Kakashi Gaiden is finally being animated?

I stopped watching the Naruto anime long ago, but I might have to pick it up again just for this!

I must say that Bleach has been really boring of late, but...( Spoilers! )

I first heard about this anthology while browsing Karen Harbaugh's website, where it is described as "Asian American contemporary romance." My instant reaction: WANT! After all, just the other day I had been talking with a friend and wishing there was an Asian American Jennifer Crusie. This seemed like just what I was looking for. I promptly got online, and after determining that there were no readily available library copies, I found a copy on Bookmooch.

I first began to suspect the book might be a disappointment when I got it in my hands. Nothing on the cover indicated that this was at all an Asian American themed anthology until I squinted and saw the little figures on the wedding cakes were wearing, respectively, a kimono, a sari, an áo bà ba, and a qi pao. Both the subtitle and the title mentioned matchmaking, the other theme of the anthology, but there was no mention of anything Asian. As you know, Bob-people, I worked in publishing for several year, and I know how anthologies are titled and covers are designed. These sorts of choices are all VERY intentional.

On top of this, the authors' names also provide few clues to readers that this anthology might be Asian American in theme, aside from "Sabeeha Johnson." This made me raise my eyebrows a bit. Then I thought, "Hey, people can have names for many reasons, and many people of Asian heritage can have names that do not obviously reflect that, and you are probably being oversensitive and enforcing some unfair standard of cultural authenticity." And I flipped the book over, and the character's cultures were fairly evident there through their names, and I figured I was worrying too much. And so I read it anyway.

The stories are a mixed bag. ( Comments on the stories, a huge rant, and some broader commentary )

VERY EXCITED TWO WORD REACTION TO THIS CHAPTER:

( spoiler )

( ETA: Also, spoilery. )

After much thought and delay, I went and bought an Apple Time Capsule today. It's Apple's wireless router + hard drive combo, and of course it is pretty much plug and play for anyone using Time Machine to back up. I went back and forth on whether I should get this or just assemble the component pieces on my own; in the end, I decided the lack of hassle was worth the tiny price upgrade. It's not what the true technophile would do, but I'm sure the true technophile would have also had a backup strategy in place long before now.

Anyway, the Time Capsule is up and running with the usual minimum of fuss. I have named it Olivia (as in the FMA character), to continue my tradition of naming my personal technology after my favorite women characters in anime and manga (laptop is Yuuko; iPhone is Lacus; external hard drive is Tsunade; iPod nano is Rukia; ancient 3rd gen iPod is Hawkeye; flash drive is Hinata). I also considered: Haruhi, Ahiru, Sakura, Kanna, Tanyuu, Izumi, Yotsuba, Hagu, Yamada, Sally Po, and Kureha, but none of them felt right. The wireless network is Timcampy, which will probably only make sense to those reading D.Gray-Man.

And now I do not need to worry nearly as much about what will happen to me if (when?) my laptop's hard drive decides to die on me. (Though I still need to arrange for an off-site backup one of these days.)

Just called my insurance broker to see if I could get a better rate on my car insurance for the next six months. Will be paying $375 $400 less! Awesome.

(I think I have finally had my license long enough to qualify for better rates. Plus I am now getting a combo discount because my renters and auto insurance are from the same company.)

Um....

( Huge spoilers )

Random Curiosity is currently posting a series of "name that seiyuu" quizzes.

I am not doing very well at them - I tend to identify seiyuu by role rather than by voice. That said, I did recognize Shinichiro Miki, Takehito Koyasu, and Fujiwara Keiji instantly. And with a little thought I also got Tomokazu Seki and Tomakazu Sugita. Apparently I am much better at identifying male seiyuu than female seiyuu. Only female seiyuu I identified was Marina Inoue.

I am both impressed and slightly horrified that some people were able to identify actors and roles! Though I suppose anyone who knows Japanese would have quite an advantage; more context would be helpful, and even a little context helped me with one of the above.

oyceter and I saw the movie Munyurangabo at the San Francisco Film Society this afternoon. I've been interested in seeing it since it was featured in a year's best list by APA in 2007, and it finally came to a theatre near me.

To offer an understatement: this is an unusual film--directed by a Korean-American (Lee Isaac Chung), set in Rwanda, the first film made in the Kinyarwandan language. It focuses on a journey taken by two young men who are best friends, and grew out of a film making class that Chung was teaching in Rwanda one summer. This is not Hotel Rwanda by a long shot, and this is a good thing.

It's not a perfect film, but it is definitely well worth watching. A scene toward the end of the film, in which a poet recites his work for one of the main characters, Ngabo, is alone worth the price of admission.

Some press and reviews:
Profile at Sojourners magazine. My favorite excerpt:

With some embarrassment, Chung admits another reason his film has found an audience at international festivals: “Several programmers have told me the film isn’t what they expected it to be.”

“Which is what, exactly?” I ask.

“I guess they expected another film about white guilt.”

APA Review
Interview at Christianity Today.
NY Times review
Hammer to Nail: A Conversation with Lee Isaac Chung
Retrospectives: an essay by Lee Isaac Chung

( Embedded trailer behind the cut tag )

I was reminded today of silly games I played in my Korean youth group days. I couldn't quite remember the rules for one, so I Googled accordingly. And now I share!

You will probably note while reading the descriptions below that both are about punishing the loser rather than celebrating the winner. This probably has something to do with the fact that many of these are also drinking games. :)

( Two games )

Very brief spoilery comments:

( DUDES. It is a wonder that the scans did not electronically combust from the sheer awesomeness of a certain thing in this chapter. )

AKICOLJ (will I soon have to start writing AKICODW?)--

I am trying to use fewer plastic bags. I am making good progress on the shopping bag front, but have hit the wall when it comes to ziploc bags. I put most snacks and leftovers in reusable containers, but I also need a way to freeze meats and other things that I buy in bulk that does not rely so much on ziplocs. Does anyone have a strategy or recommendation? Right now I am pondering washing and reusing, but I am worrying about this from a food safety standpoint.

At first glance, The Changeover seems like a fairly conventional YA fantasy novel. Nothing in a plot description (teenage girl seeks help from a mysterious classmate when her younger brother falls ill) would make you expect this to be anything out of the ordinary. But it doesn't feel conventional at all, thanks to the writing, which is smart and evocative. The flat prose in a lot of fantasy (especially contemporary YA fantasy) often takes the shine off the story--that's not the case here. And the characterization just crackles. When Mahy writes about Laura's interactions with her classmate Sorry, the energy of their strange attraction comes through very clearly. And Mahy's touch with the supporting cast is just as assured. I'm so glad I finally got around to reading this one.

On a side note, can anyone point me toward fic? I found one Yuletide story but all my other searches have drawn a complete blank.

A Grave Talent is the first novel in King's contemporary mystery series featuring Detective Kate Martinelli. When a killer begins abducting and strangling 5-year-old girls--and leaving their bodies on an isolated road--Martinelli is called in to work on the case to provide a female face to the investigative team.

It's been a long time since I read the first books in King's Mary Russell series, and I wasn't sure what to expect here. I was really pleasantly surprised by the depth of characterization given to Kate; the other main detective, Hawkin; and the prime suspect, a women named Vaun Adams. The balance between plot and character was just right: it made this feel like a substantial read without being a difficult one. And though the story is often (and necessarily) grim, there are enough touches of humor to cut through the darkness.

I also enjoyed the Bay Area setting, and am glad I ended up reading this while living here. I would have missed out if I had picked this up while living elsewhere.

( A few spoilers )

I thought I was done with my romance kick, but I thought wrong! Stress drove me right back to mediocre Regency historicals as comfort reads. Anyway, I report for your amusement.

Anyway, Julia Quinn is another romance writer whose work I enjoy but don't love. Most of what I've read of her stuff is from the Bridgerton series, which follows the eight Bridgerton siblings through their predictably complicated courtships. The sequelitis is actually not nearly as bad as it could be, given the size of the family and the length of the series. Yes, characters do reappear, but it's not obnoxious; they don't push the supposed leads off the page. There are, however, a distressing number of babies. (Mostly off the page, but still.)

The tone for this series is set by a gossip columnist, Lady Whistledown, who offers a running commentary on the ton and its foibles, including poor fashion choices, musicales by the tone deaf, and matchmaking mamas. In other words, these romances are heavily inclined toward the light and fluffy (with one two exceptions--see #6 and comments re: #5). Of course, various characters (mostly male) do have Sekrit Pains, most of which make me roll my eyes.

( Comments on individual titles )

Met up with oyceter this afternoon. We went by the library, because I wanted to see if one of my much delayed holds was ready for pickup. Alas, it was not, so I will have to wait until next week to read Elizabeth Willey's second book. However, we ended up browsing for a bit, which is how we ended up in the romance novel section. (Both of us have been on romance novel reading binges lately.) Anyway, this library keeps its romance paperbacks on those clear acrylic spinning racks that allow you to see the full cover of the books at the end of each section. And as we turned the rack, we were suddenly confronted by this cover.

I literally laughed until I cried.

(I believe this was after we were talking about the now well-established trend in romance covers to only show people from the neck down. Which is sometimes ridiculous, as linked above, but still generally preferable to having to see the faces of Fabio and friends. Headless covers are also common in YA, but I feel like they were popular in romance first. Anyone have evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, to support or deny this theory?)