Absurd Singularity

The price of gas is skyrocketing. When I think of all those ignorant earth polluters who bought and drive SUVs, I can only think of one thing...

Hachimitsu to Clover (Honey & Clover)

Downloaded this on a whim via BitTorrent without knowing anything at all about it and it's turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. Man, fansubbing sure has come a ways since our college days. I remember when fansubs were basically done with LDs (or even VHS tapes) of older anime series but now, fansubbers are releasing current series, sometimes within a week of the Japanese air date.

Anyways, HachiKuro reminds me of the old classic, Koko wa Greenwood, which unfortunately never reached its full potential as an anime series. When I first saw Yamada from HachiKuro I was eerily reminded of the long-haired boy, Shun, from Greenwood. I guess probably cause both titles have their roots in shoujo manga. Even the artwork is similar, with more muted and pastel colors, although HachiKuro has more detailed work throughout. Quite beautiful for a tv series.

As for the story, it's a romantic comedy drama slice of life series starring a group of art students that by far is one of the best, ever. It's clearly evident that the producer and writers are highly devoted to doing a top-notch job on this title. From the OP to the ED and everything in between, everything just... fits. I won't waste time espousing all the virtues of this anime (just google the title if you want more info) but suffice to say, download it and watch it. Each episode is riveting, there's no fluff anywhere and I keep checking AnimeSuki every day in anticipation of the next episode. It's just damn good.

Erin & I are walking down Grove Street in downtown Jersey City after work yesterday to visit a newly-built condo in the area when we fell in step behind a young ghetto Latino finishing his explanation to a passing friend why he was no longer working at his previous place of employment:

"Yeah man, they were like trying to work me like a slave. Fuck dat shit, I'm no Mexican."

Super fabulous weather this Labor Day weekend...

so took a really, really long drive down to the Wheaton Village on Sunday to take a look around. Practically deserted that day and literally in the middle of nowhere. But they had some simply gorgeous glass pieces in both the museum and gift shops. Especially with the glass paperweights. Didn't compare to the glass pieces we saw at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park but was pretty close. ;-) Anyhoo, some pics following...

Midori no Hibi (Midori Days)

Just finished this entertaining and heart-warming series (rent from Netflix) and am in a pretty good mood. =) Good to see that some anime studios still know to keep things short and sweet as this series is just 13 episodes long. For once we have a non-wishy-washy male protaganist who knows what he wants so obviously that cut down on the number of episodes significantly. =)

Briefly, the story is a romantic comedy about a misunderstood high school rebel (kind-hearted of course =p) with a secret admirer who suddenly winds up literally as his right hand. Teenage male with his right hand as a girlfriend jokes aside, it's actually a refreshingly funny concept. Anyways, definitely worth a look.

Why is it that having your hair washed feels so much better than washing your own hair?

Every now and then I wonder what I look like going about my daily activities. Guess I'll never know unless I hire a photog to clandestinely follow me around and take pics. =) But until then I guess I'll make do with this fantastic thread of photogs in action. Living vicariously or whatnot. =p Also good to check out pics of some of the more obscene camera lenses out there. And I thought the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS was a behemoth...

Not.

This past Friday I wandered over to the Canon Expo 2005 at the Jacob Javits Center to check out what Canon has been up to and sit in on a couple of seminars featuring well-known photogs (I assumed) who shoot with Canon equipment.

Last Saturday we took my parents out to Belmont Park to check out the Taste of Lexus Performance Edition event where they basically took over one huge parking lot and split it up into four small courses so that people could test drive all their available models (including one not yet in production prototype, the rocket IS350). They also pitched a huge tent on one side where you could view the newer cars (IS350, GS430, RX400h) up close, learn about some of the technologies incorporated in the vehicles, snack on some more upscale finger foods, and even schedule a massage.

for some reason this exchange cracked me the hell up. And reminded me of Comic Party. It almost made you believe that cosplay was the most normal thing to do in the world. ;-) Although in some ways I do respect cosplayers... I'd never have the guts to be out in public dressed like this.

For all of my Maroons:

I don't know about you, but this upsets me. Macy's was the department store I knew in the New York tri-state area. It was a heart-warming bit of regional color when I went to the Chicago and saw that they had Marshall Field's. Now that is no more.

(press release follows)

for manual labor. Spent this weekend helping my Dad with some landscaping. Specifically, carting wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of soil from their front yard to the very rear of their backyard. And then tossing the soil, one shovel-full after another, over the waist-high wall back there. Stupid wall, without the wall I could've just dumped the soil straight from the wheelbarrow to the ground. Then carting back about 80 pounds of concrete slabs back to the front yard. And I thought shoveling snow was tough. Nothing quite like contending with embedded rocks and stubborn roots to really ruin your day. Damn good thing that the weather was nice and cool though. If we had done this a weekend or two earlier I would have passed out in half an hour.

I don't know how my Dad does it though. For someone in his early 60s with a balky back his strength and endurance is simply Herculean. Can't compete despite being half his age. And it's not like he does that much physical work normally either. Golf's the only physical past-time he does on a regular basis these days. But he still managed to single-handedly uproot 9 medium-sized bushes and do all the soil-carting for hours before I even got there on Saturday.

Ah well, I was never good in endurance trials anyway. There is a reason why I was a sprinter and not a long-distance runner in high school. ;-p Actually I'm not feeling that bad today. Just a little sore throughout with the brunt of it in my lower back. Guess it's a sign that I should start working out again. *sigh* Now I know how Spurlock hurt is wrist so quickly in his 30 Days episode where he tried to live on minimum wage and wound up doing gardening work for like $5/hour. Tilling the soil by hand is NOT fun. If anyone knows of any exercises for strengthening the back, let me know. ;-)

on my back in my parent's family room sofa recuperating Saturday evening, I noticed for the first time, that the small chandelier they have in the room projected a rather interesting pattern on the ceiling. So took a few shots. It finally occurred to me after viewing pics by other photogs that the key (or one of the keys) to good photography is the effective use of light and shadow. Unfortunately I don't have quite the discerning eye for that currently but I'm trying to train it.

It's the opiate of the masses.

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7036