Today, June 30, is the official birthday of Sailor Moon. All peasants are hereby ordered to rejoice and make merry on pain of death.
Mako-chan’s baking.
Month: June 2018
Technical Difficulties
I’m having some new trouble over here with posting content. I’m mentioning it partly by way of excuse, but also to see if readers have any suggestions.
My Blu-Ray/DVD player has basically stopped working. The only one I own is the one built into my computer, which is now about ten years old, so this is no great surprise. It’s basically stopped playing any video disc I put into it. This is frustrating not only because it means I’ve lost access to my DVD collection but also because it frustrates some reviews I wanted to produce. Replacing the computer is something I’ve known for a few years that I’d have to do soon, but it is simply not in the budget right now. I might consider an external DVD player, which would be considerably cheaper, and which I could also hook to my television, which at present I barely use except when I plug the HDMI cable into it from my computer.
I have also apparently lost the ability to screencap iTunes. I’m not sure if this is because of an iTunes update designed to protect copyright, or if this is because of some change in my system (I’ve updated iTunes a couple of times recently, but I also had the computer in for maintenance—so who knows?). I’ve tried some different software and nothing has worked. This is frustrating because I’ve always liked the convenience of iTunes in spite of some problems, but I rely heavily on screencaps for my reviews. In particular, this will mean I can’t create screencaps for my reviews of Sailor Moon, as well as some other things I was planning to discuss.
So anyway, that’s where I am at right now. I hope to have some solutions to these problems soon, and of course I appreciate any suggestions.
Jake Blatowski’s New Look
Oh man, what a hunk. No wonder Dana wouldn’t stop pestering him after he sat next to her in class.
He looks like he’s about to go on a crazy adventure after getting sucked into a Nintendo …
And I like the Velcro sneakers. Not only can Jake not graduate to high school like a normal kid, he can’t tie his own shoes. This works for me.
Although this isn’t something I would make a big issue of, I did ask the artist if he could consider darkening Jake up a bit. He’s supposed to be rather tawny; although, if asked, he’ll say he’s Polish, he doesn’t look Polish.
Pretty Dynamo’s New Look
Still waiting for the final cover art for Jake and the Dynamo. However, I did just get this partial, showing the design for Magical Girl Pretty Dynamo as she’ll appear on the cover.
I don’t know about you, but I’m blown away. Yes … this is exactly what I pictured in my head … cough
Actually, that’s a lot cooler than what I pictured in my head.
I’m Back
I have just moved to a new location, so I was out of the loop for about a week while all my electronics were packed away. I just spent most of the day figuring out how to get my Internet service connected—most of that time having been spent trying to remember in which box I packed the power cord for my wireless router. After that, I spent a couple hours on the phone with my new service provider, during which time I spoke to four different technicians, three of whom could not seem to accomplish the simple task of activating my service.
But anyway, I am now back online.
‘Sailor Moon Super S’ Part 1 Now Available
I know I’ve not kept up with things around here. I just finished my degree and I’m starting a new career in a couple of weeks, I’m currently preparing to move. I’ll probably be out of contact for the better part of next week as I’ll first be sending my computer in for service and will then hit the road.
And of course I should have a novel out soon, except we keep hitting unexpected delays. Everything is together except the cover art, and I can tell you that the manuscript looks really, really good. If you’ve read some or all of the web version of Jake and the Dynamo and enjoyed it, you will want to get this book. If you haven’t read it, but like action-adventure or laughing really hard, you will want to get this book.
On another note, because I haven’t been keeping up with news in the genre like I should, this is late—but better late than never. The first half of Sailor Moon Super S, the fourth animated series in the Sailor Moon saga, is out in the uncensored release from Viz. The rest of the series I previous purchased on iTunes, and I will be doing the same again.
I intended to review the second half of Sailor Moon S, though as it turned out, there were few substantial additional comments I wanted to make after I reviewed the first half. By this time, having reviewed the third season of Sailor Moon Crystal, the third arc of Sailor Moon is a horse I’ve beaten half to death anyway. I will probably put up a short review to reiterate a few points and add a few new ones before I move into Super S.
Also worth noting is that Viz has promised to release the S and Super S movies to theaters, just as they did with Sailor Moon R. I will try to see them if possible, but my upcoming move and new job will likely make it impractical if not impossible for me to get to a theater that’s showing them. I’ll keep you posted on that front.
Was Cleaning Out Some Old Stuff, and Look What I Found!
“First my Striker terminal, then this, this little slap at my industrial complex. You’re a flea, Jonathan Power, and I’m going to swat you!”
I played this in a VCR, and I have no equipment to capture images from it except by photographing the screen, so please excuse the picture quality.
Anyway, I absolutely love Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, an ill-fated children’s television series that ran for one season in 1987. It was the first—and last—attempt at interactive television, something that many at the time mistakenly assumed was the future of TV. Costing a million dollars an episode, sparking controversy for its violent content, and plagued by continuous fights between the writers (led by J. Michael Straczynski) and sponsor Mattel, the show was destined for early cancellation. Continue reading “Was Cleaning Out Some Old Stuff, and Look What I Found!”
The League of Extraordinary Grade-Schoolers, Part 6
Chapter 6: Into the Fire
Because of the security system, the teleporter couldn’t carry Ivy and Bean all the way to Pink’s base in the space elevator’s counterweight. Instead, it deposited them in her secondary headquarters at geostationary orbit. There, in the midst of the central control room, with the Earth filling the vast window before them, they floated, weightless. The elevator’s black nanocarbon ribbon stretched away to the globe and disappeared into the swirling white foam of the thunderstorm raging below. Occasionally, flashes of lightning were visible in the clouds.
Bean held Ivy in her arms while Ivy sobbed.
They were both soaked from the rain. Water danced around them in the air, round and clear like marbles. Bean always thought weightless liquids looked like Jell-O.
Nestled against Bean’s chest, Ivy’s frizzy red hair bounced and waved, occasionally casting off more of the round globs of water. In one hand, Ivy clutched half of the ruined leather case of her grimoire. Its rescued parchment pages, most of them smeared and unreadable, swirled around in the air, blown hither and thither by the stations’ ventilation system.
“I’ll never be a real witch now,” Ivy cried. Tears poured from her eyes and floated away. “That Fancy Nancy is awful!” Continue reading “The League of Extraordinary Grade-Schoolers, Part 6”
Ritsu’s ‘Magical Record’
A fellow who calls himself Andrea Ritsu has an interesting post entitled “Magical Record,” on the subject of magical girl anime. This is supposed to be the first in a series, but he’s only posted one so far that I can find, on the subject of exactly what is and is not a magical girl show.
Although he spends several paragraphs discussing irrelevancies mirroring his personal preoccupation, it is a good discussion overall. He does a fine job distinguishing the magical girl per se from stories that happen to feature girls who use magic. It’s worth reading.
Maintenance Day!
I’ve spent this afternoon doing some much-needed maintenance on the site. You can see that the menu options up top are now more useful. I’ve also removed broken links. I’ve deleted some WordPress plugins that weren’t working as intended and added a few others. I’m having some trouble with Disqus; it’s still functional, but no longer syncing with my WordPress dashboard. I’ll probably get it figured out in the near future.
Probably next up is to fix my Patreon account, which was originally set up for the online serialization of Jake and the Dynamo. So that needs to change.