And speaking of shameless endorsements

A message from the National Chicken Tenders Bureau.

This is why I still read anime blogs

Series reviews such as this:

The phrase "Train wreck" comes to mind, but it’s really not accurate. Trains have momentum and direction. This does not. A better analogy would be a pack of feral chihuauas in heat. With grenades taped to their backs. Entertaining and destructive, maybe even cute and tragic at times, but ultimately a waste of explosives and snake food.

from Aroduc's post on the final episode of Angel Beats!

Couldn't have said it better if I still went through the trouble it takes to actually watch this stuff.

Don't get too excited now, guys.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new winner for the "Creepiest Photo on this Blog" award!

In the months since the Lucky☆Star anime aired, Saitama prefecture, the setting of the series, has been finding new and innovative ways to make a quick buck from the franchise. This includes the show's Hiiragi family being registered as official residents of Washimiya, and the Washinomiya shrine (where Tsukasa and Kagami Hiiragi work as miko) hosting an event attracting thousands.

Now the city of Satte, hometown of main character Konata Izumi, has gotten into the act as well. The city is installing decorative panels commemorating the series on over 500 of its street lamps. This is in addition to the limited edition sake already available in the city.

If this were any country other than Japan, these would be covered in Sharpie scribbles by now.

In light of these events, the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce would like to issue the following reminder:

(Photo by tomdobb)

Still a pain in the ass at 4 AM, though

It's kind of nice to see that I'm not the only one who has had to resort to the old "Bed or Chair System". In fact, it seems to be a time-honored tradition. Of course, the best solution seems to be to get a nice, big apartment and clear the local IKEA of shelving units, but A: I'm stuck in retail for at least another two months, and B: there's no IKEA around here, anyway.

I have begun collecting figures. My status as "that one eccentric unmarried uncle everybody has" is now permanently cemented.

Update: I have managed to work the "Bed or Chair System" into today's Japanese homework:

ねる前に、ベッドの上にあるDVDの山をいすに移動しなくちゃいけません。

Before I go to sleep, I must move the mountain of DVDs that is on my bed over to the chair.

I have no idea if this is entirely correct, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough when the teacher docks me three letter grades for using にinstead of へ or something silly like that. Seriously, that's what we're dealing with this semester. We're already planning a sting operation to go to Japan and drag last year's instructor back, kicking and screaming if necessary.

Scavenger Hunt

468: Abstract portrait of Yuki Nagato in a hipster outfit with donkey ears: Check.

Calling a Flagrant

From the "have-to-blog-this-before-the-lawyers-kill-it" dept:

(Oops, too late.)

This is just wrong.

Completely.

Inexcusably.

Wrong.

To the infinitieth power.

Times 2.

Seriously, folks. Do we not remember what happened when someone did this with the Powerpuff Girls? That's right, Japan actually went and made it! We really don't want such a tragic event to happen again, do we?



*Waits for coast to clear*

*Sets Frieda as new wallpaper*



...what?

Blowing Rasperries at your Heaven

So XScreenSaver (an excellent collection of screensavers for UNIX-ish systems, including Mac OS X) has this saver called "FuzzyFlakes", created by Barry Dmytro, which features multicolored flakes wafting around your screen. Originally, these were pink flakes on a green background, to match the end credits of Azumanga Daioh, which were the inspiration for the screen saver. A few versions later, the ability to specify different or random color schemes was added. However, the new color selection scheme made it impossible to get the original Azumanga-inspired colors anymore. So about a year ago, I posted a patch at the end of this post that would re-enable these colors.



Anyway, the patch no longer works with the recently released XScreenSaver 5.00, so I've made a new patch to go along with it. I've also included a universal binary for Mac OS X, for those of you who are into that sort of thing. For the patch, you'll need the source code for version 5.07 of XScreenSaver, which is available here. Mac users need to have Mac OS 10.4 or higher. Windows users can go suck Mr. Tadakichi's tail.

• Source code patch
• Mac OS X binary

Cheerio!

I just realized that this was the only blog left on the Internet that hasn't made fun of Phil Spector's hair yet. I shall now remedy this situation.
(AP Photo)

So for the last few days, the Scranton area has been undergoing an inexplicable influx of British people. It started with a few on Wednesday night, then by Thursday every other customer at work was rattling on about tills and kippers and whatnot. It eventually got to the point where even the other customers (who are usually about as cognizant of their surroundings as Terri Schiavo) noticed it, and began speaking in bad fake British accents in their usual "dumb-customer-who-thinks-he's-a-witty-smartass" fashion.

I have absolutely no idea why this is happening. I mean, why the hell would you travel all the way to America, just to go to Scranton? Are we suddenly some kind of international tourist destination? Do people really want to see the Electric City sign that badly? Are they actually taking Old Forge's talk of being the "Pizza Capitol of the World" seriously? Are the Iron Furnaces a happening place now? What's the draw here?

"I gotta tell you, folks, I gotta tell you, when I woke up this morning, I was having a bad hair day. This was a bad hair day for Ed Robertson. But, all was not lost, for I simply turned on my TV and the answer was before me! The answer was before me! I mortgaged my house, sold my car, sold my parents and some of my siblings, and I bought a tiny spray. And I sprayed it on top of my head, until I got this Glorious Poof of Wonderment!"

Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, at a concert in Massey Hall in Toronto, May 1993

"Creepy hovering Electric City sign" wallpaper: 1280x960 1024x768 800x600

Soramimi This!

For those of you who use Unix/Linux/BSD/OS X/Sushix/whatever and who are bummed about the FuzzyFlakes hack in xscreensaver dropping the Azumanga Daioh colors (I'm sure that's millions of you), here's a little patch I made to cheer you up.