Guilty Anime Pleasures: Aishiteruze Baby

Waking up really early in the morning has it's perks after all. Having been sitting in the office since 5:30 a.m., I stumbled upon a neat little anime called Aishiteruze Baby.



Contrary to what most people believe I actually watch some anime that doesn't involve violence or action. Aishiteruze Baby just happens to be a really neat Comedy/Drama series about Kippei, a playboy teenager who ends up having to take care of his 5 year old cousin, Yuzuyu.

The series is heartwarming and well written. Whoever is doing Yuzuyu's voice is incredible, and her portrayal of an emotionally impressionable 5 year old is enough to set off my own older brother instincts.

Anyway, I'm going back to what I should really be doing... work. But if you guys ever get a chance, you can download the torrent for it over at This Link

Lunchtime Rant: Garden Burger

On my way to having lunch out today, I ran into Mexicali. I usually don't pay much attention to it, but for some reason a tiny memory of a menu item I saw there before resurfaced in my mind.

Garden Burger.

I wasn't sure why I was inside Mexicali. Maybe it was fate. Destiny. Anyong meets Garden Burger = what?

I had to know.

And so I ordered the Garden Burger. For a product that didn't really entail chasing after and butchering a massive four legged animal with eight stomachs, it certainly cost a lot more than a regular burger. But meh, so what? That's the paradox of modern existence: Things that are good for you are inevitably more expensive.

That's why mothers insist that children eat all the vegetables on their plates. "Those veggies are damned expensive, child! EAT! EAT! I want to see you shovel those peas in your mouth faster than the Abu Sayaff running for cover!"

Anyway, back on topic.

Garden Burger.

I sat down, and waited for this strange food item to arrive. It was a paradox among paradoxes, a burger with vegetables instead of meat. It was the anti-matter of burger existence.

And so it arrived. And it looked moderately good. There it sat on my plate. In a wheat bread bun with lettuce and tomatoes and a burger patty that wasn't meat. I picked it up, examining it, even as my head pulled another hazy memory from some forgotten instance:

"Real Oats"

Ah, right. The Garden Burger was made of oats... and other vegetable products. Conditioned by modern urban living the thought of oats pulled another word.

Fiber.

Fantastic. Here in my very hands I hold the panacea for every modern man. A hunk of fiber, cleverly disguised as meat, free from the grease and fat of cow corpse grind. Fiber. Amazing how advertising has nearly brought this aspect of food to near sainthood.

So how does it actually taste?

Sadly, it tastes like mashed potatoes, rolled around in oats, flattened into a patty, then fried to a golden brown.

Needless to say it was underwhelming. Sure it was healthy, but that leads to the second paradox of healthy foods.

It must taste bad.

If you find something that's supposed to be good for you and it actually tastes good, then there's obviously something in there that is actually bad for you, or will give you cancer, whichever is worse.

And so I chewed, looking at the rest of my burger. It was odd, the color of the patty inside was the same as the wheat bun. So much so that it didn't look like there was a burger at all, just a bun, with some bread in between, lettuce, tomatoes and another bun.

I downed it with generous amounts of water, hoping that somehow, I would manage the herculean task of actually getting it out of the way and in my gut before lunch hour ends.

Somehow, I do. And I stand, full from water more than burger, and walk out of Mexicali.

Next time, I'm going for the burrito.

Quantum Poetry in Motion

Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics!
Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics!
(Not bad, eh? Don't worry. This part of the verse
Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.)
Win saw that the theory that Newton'd invented
By Einstein's discov'ries had been badly dented.
What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, "Don't panic,
No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic.
Consider electrons. Now, these teeny articles
Are sometimes like waves, and then sometimes like particles.
If that's not confusing, the nuclear dance
Of electrons and suchlike is governed by chance!
No sweat, though--my theory permits us to judge
Where some of 'em is and the rest of 'em was."
Not everyone bought this. It threatened to wreck
The comforting linkage of cause and effect.
E'en Einstein had doubts, and so Schroedinger tried
To tell him what quantum mechanics implied.
Said Win to Al, "Brother, suppose we've a cat,
And inside a tube we have put that cat at--
Along with a solitaire deck and some Fritos,
A bottle of Night Train, a couple mosquitoes
(Or something else rhyming) and, oh, if you got 'em,
One vial prussic acid, one decaying ottom
Or atom--whatever--but when it emits,
A trigger device blasts the vial into bits
Which snuffs our poor kitty. The odds of this crime
Are 50 to 50 per hour each time.
The cylinder's sealed. The hour's passed away. Is
Our pussy still purring--or pushing up daisies?
Now, you'd say the cat either lives or it don't
But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won't.
Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke),
Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked.
To some this may seem a ridiculous split,
But quantum mechanics must answer, "Tough @#&!
We may not know much, but one thing's fo' sho':
There's things in the cosmos that we cannot know.
Shine light on electrons--you'll cause them to swerve.
The act of observing disturbs the observed--
Which ruins your test. But then if there's no testing
To see if a particle's moving or resting
Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor!
We know probability--certainty, never.'
The effect of this notion? I very much fear
'Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear.
Till soon the cat doctors will say in reports,
"We've just flipped a coin and we've learned he's a corpse."'
So saith Herr Erwin. Quoth Albert, "You're nuts.
God doesn't play dice with the universe, putz.
I'll prove it!" he said, and the Lord knows he tried--
In vain--until fin'ly he more or less died.
Win spoke at the funeral: "Listen, dear friends,
Sweet Al was my buddy. I must make amends.
Though he doubted my theory, I'll say of this saint:
Ten-to-one he's in heaven--but five bucks says he ain't."

...

By Cecil Adams, apparently. (taken from StephenLS's LJ)

RPGs, and the Year of the Sequel

The past year or so has been the Year of the Sequel for RPGS on my shelf. Starting with L5R 3rd Edition, to Mage: the Awakening, to finally Exalted 2.0, I haven't really bought any "new" lines as of late.

Not that I mind of course. L5R 3rd Edition is buggier than most Beta Test software, but it still holds a special place in my heart. As such, I'll forgive the hack job of editing that they did, and focus on the positive aspect. It's the most comprehensive rulebook they're released. Outstripping the revered (and still equally buggy) first edition with sheer crunch.

Mage: the Awakening is different from its spiritual predecessor, Mage: the Ascension. So many of the old has been removed, replaced with an admittedly more solid set of mechanics for magic, but the loss of all the Gonzo goodness of the first iteration. Instead, we've got Paradigm in a box, and the secrets of Atlantis. It's definitely a different game, and perhaps, of the three games I'm looking at in this post, the one that is not a true sequel.

Finally, my latest purchase... Exalted 2.0. Exalted is the one game that my current gaming group can't get enough of. High flying Wuxia-esque maneuvers crossed the heroes of myth. But what does this new edition bring to the table that the old one didn't?

New mechanics. A boatload of new mechanics. Mass Combat (cleaned up), Social Combat (new) and an entirely different initative system that runs on "ticks". It's way crunchier than what most people expected, and that made the detractors of Exalted's massive charm trees recoil in horror. Even older players gave pause to the content, but tried it anyway.

I'm going to be off my first game of Exalted 2.0 tomorrow, and I'm hoping it'll be a good experience. Having played HERO for several months in a row, I think Exalted's mechanics won't be that complicated, but I do expect to see some sort of learning curve.

From two.eyes.left

Do you

- remind yourself that you have 20 life?

No, I usually use a d20 to keep track of my life. Takes up less headspace dedicated to figuring out what to do with a crappy hand. :p

- count your successes?

Every time. Always remembering to count Zeroes as 2 successes rather than just one most of the time.

- love 20s, Fear ones?

Ones strike fear in even the bravest d20 players.

- always untap your resources, check for upkeeps, and then draw your next bet before doing anything?

Yep. Been ingrained in my skull from my Magic days. Then again, now it's unbow and check who has the Imperial Favor.

- hope your dice explode?

Exploding dice are great, unless you're a GM. I've seen opponents meant to give 4-6 rounds of combat excitement drop like flies as soon as the PC dice start exploding. *sigh* Now I miss running L5R, it's such a humbling experience. :p

- remember that even peons can kill daimyos?

Of course. Keep Daimyo's safe, dammit!

- try to make your saves?

Is this even a valid question? Jesus Saves! Everyone else takes 6d6 damage.

- delay meeting the first boss?

Always. You're never ready unless you're at least 3 levels over the level you got to the boss door with. Rule of Thumb.

- love your ribbon?

Pretty much, only on female PCs though.

- save your mana?

I consider Mana to be a precious resource until you can get regenerative potions for them. Even then, use Mana wisely.

- avoid base contact?

Most of the time, unless I'm ready to descend on my opponent's unit with a thunderous Brettonnian charge.

- count the clicks?

Only when taking damage from enemy fire in a dogfight of Crimson Skies.

- move your dwarves forward?

They move their dwarves forward. I don't usually play dwarves.

- remember that you need the level you're in times one thousand in experience to get to the next level?

Yep. All the time. *sighs* looks at character sheet experience bar. Got some more killin' an lootin' to do.

- know in you're heart that Gifted plus Skilled isn't worth it?

Yep. I can't imagine getting both... 0_o

- mind your facing? Getting flanked sucks.

Never has this statement been more true.

- count your hexes?

Yep. Hex counting keeps the mind flexible, and insures that the players are applying the correct range penalty, dammit. :p

- remember that you have your drama dice, hero points, blood-pool, pattern, void-point, notch, or gaeas to fall back on?

Can't call yourself an RPG player if you don't remember something as basic as that. :)

- guard your harvesters?

Always. Nothing worse than losing one to a Sandworm.

- bunny hop?

Nah. I never could get the hang of it.

- think you're an expert excrement expeditor?

I don't think I am. I had to be one. $500 ain't half bad, you know?

- build as close to your resources first?

Of course. Less time = more efficiency.

- kill the pylons?

It's a sound tactic to shut down the Protoss.

- rest your tallest finger on W, your thumb on the space bar, your ring finger on A, your pinkie on ctrl or shift, and your index on D, even while typing?

Ah... no. :p

- resolve things Last in First Out?

Yes, lest madness overtake ye.

- save on multiple slots?

You'd be a fool not to. Try playing Persona with just a single save slot.

- avoid spiky poles?

along with whirling blades, smashing walls, laser beams, saw blades, swinging spiked rams, crumbling walls, tumbling electrocuted boulders, mines and various other hazards.

Alright gamers out there, post your answers to this questionnaire. :D