Where's Ryorin, What's Up With The Schedule, and How About Some More Eva

You may remember when I previously mentioned that my shiny new schedule got a wee bit thrown off when unanticipated things that make up life happen.  This past week I've learned that when said unanticipated events include musicals, jet-lag, and illness, schedule get eaten whole.

So!  I will spend the next week making up the five posts I missed while laying in bed trying to digest my oh-so-hardy breakfast of a single sip of water before I move on to a new and improved schedule for March!

For those of you keeping track, that's one Fiction Friday, one Animated Tuesday, one Webcomic Wednesday, and two posts about whatever-I-kriffing-well please.  And, yes, I am counting this as today's official post because I'm still recovering and don't have the energy for this.

If you simply must have content, I watched the second Rebuild of Evangelion film, Evangelion: You Can (Not) Advance (the first of which I discuss here) and it was fantastic.  It felt much more coherent as a film than the first one and it changed a lot.  It even had a father-son moment, which caused me to flail about, grab my phone, and ask my brother if I was still watching something involving Eva.  It changes pacing, character development (oh my Waru, Rei!  You grew a personality!), when events happen, who the events happen to, etc.  It is still Eva but, to me, it felt the way Eva should have been.  And it adds a little things called "foreshadowing."  So much.  So.  Much.  So if you were let down by the ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion or just want to see an alternate take, check it out.  Also, it ends with a Hikaru Utada song that I am beginning to suspect is the theme for these movies.  Take that as you will.

My Favorite Ridiculous, Absolutely Bonkers Fictional Courtship

Let's face it: There are a lot of really weird love stories in fiction. From Romeo and Juliet to Buffy, many of the most memorable romances are those that are in some way bizarre if you give them a bit of thought.  That said, it would be impossible for me to judge what the most insane of such romances is; there will always be one stranger.  Instead, I'm going to talk about my personal favorite of such courtships, a courtship so insane that I've been wanting to write about it for over three years but never had the chance... until now.

Somehow managing to beat out the Bollywood musical that is Courtship of Princess Leia, my favorite ridiculous, absolutely bonkers fictional courtship is from Robotech/ Macross.  I will be using names and quotes from the Robotech version because I'm most familiar with it.  Telling you the identities of the two involved would be something of a spoiler for the series, so that shall be under the jump.

WARNING: Below Be Somewhat Spoilers For A Show Over A Quarter Of A Century Old. Click At Your Own Risk.

Favorites of 2011

Hello there, Internet.  It's been a while.

Since we last spoke, I had surgery, discovered that I did not have a nasty, life-changing disease, moved to another country while still recovering from aforementioned surgery, began graduate school, and discovered the joys of David Weber's Honor Harrington books.  Oh, and a universe was destroyed and remade, but we'll save that discussion for another time when I can discuss it more fully.

Anyway, as it is not yet February, a quick post about some of my personal favorites of the year 2011 seems appropriate.  Let us begin!

• Favorite Album of 2011: Something Fierce by Marian Call.  (Available for listening and purchase here).  I love this album.  I really, really do.  Marian Call is an Anchorage based singer/songwriter (which may or may not make me biased) with a folk/ blues style.  This album flows very well and has a variety of sort of song in it.  Some of my favorite songs from it: "Coffee by Numbers," "E.S.B," "Dear Mister Darcy," and "Anchorage."  And let me add, this was a year in which both Kamelot and Nightwish came out with great new albums.  Two of my favorite bands.  And this one was my favorite.
• Favorite Book of 2011: Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson.
  
    First off, let me say that a lot of amazing books in series that I love came out this year: Goliath by Scott Westerfeld, One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire, I Shall Wear Midnight (paperback) by Terry Pratchett, Across the Great Barrier by Patricia C. Wrede, multiple books by Timothy Zahn... I highly recommend all of those as well as this one.  They made this a tough choice.  Go read them.  This is an incredibly fun book.  Set three hundred years after the conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy, Alloy of Law has a Western-adventure-meets-steampunk-meets-magic feel and requires no previous knowledge of the world.  If you are familiar with any of Sanderson's previous works, you know that the world is going to be well thought out, and this book doesn't disappoint.  Nor does it disappoint with interesting characters.  This book must be read by every fantasy fan.  Every.  Single.  One.  Happily, there is plenty of material for sequels, so hopefully we'll see more.
• Favorite Superhero Film of 2011: Captain America: The First Avenger.  Like good books and good albums, several good superhero movies came out last year.  My runner-up is probably Thor, but Cap, silly scenes included, was my personal favorite.  Chris Evans did an amazing job and this was a really well made movie.
• Favorite Video Game of 2011: Portal 2.  Portal was an amazing puzzle game with an unexpectedly dark plot and background and this sequel is a great follow up.  While Aperture Science's benign facade is gone from the very beginning of this game, there are still secrets to uncover and witty robots to face.  And a great ending.
• Favorite Anime of 2011: My Ordinary Life

  

  Super-geniuses drink milk!

  (also known as Nichijou and available for completely legal viewing here).  Based on the yonkoma comedy manga by Keiichi Araw, this is basically a slice of life series about people going about their normal lives in a world that's just a tad... completely bonkers.  This series has a unique sense of humor that may not suite everyone, but I say check it out in case it is your thing.  The animation style(s) are gorgeous and the ridiculousness (a seven-year-old mad scientist!  who acts like a real seven-year-old!) is fantastic.  This series is made of sparkles, rocket ships, and pure joy.  Runner-up series: Hanasaku Iroha.
• 
  Favorite Amazing Conclusion to a Long Running Manga Series of 2011: Fullmetal Alchemist volume 27.  Okay, this is practically cheating but I must mention it.  Fullmetal Alchemist is an amazing, amazing series and this is a wonderful conclusion to it.  If you like comics and/or fantasy, go read this series.  My favorite (non-spoilery) part of this volume: the train station scene.  It's just so perfect.

 That's all for now!  Have some favorites of your own to share?  Feel free to leave a comment!

The End of an Era and an Animated Gift

Tomorrow, May 21, 2011 A.D., will be the end of an era.

Tomorrow, things will change forever.

Tomorrow I graduate.

...oh, and apparently it's the Rapture, too.

Anyway, since I'll be using my amazing new powers as a Bachelor of Arts to fight off the apocalypse,* I will not be writing a normal post this weekend.  So, to celebrate my graduating, here are some links for watching free and legal anime!  Sadly, I can't guarantee that these links will work outside of the U.S., but if I find any I'll do my best to post them.

Funimation: Full episodes of anime licensed by Funimation; I think most of the videos are dubbed in English, but there are also some in Japanese with English subtitles.

Viz Anime: Full episodes of anime licensed by Viz; also a mix of subtitled and dubbed videos.  I recommend Cross Game, if you don't mind something a little slower than most licensed anime.

Crunchyroll: Full episodes of a variety of shows, mostly in Japanese with English subtitles, but with some English dubbing as well.  They also have some Korean live-action dramas, if your into that.

And, because I'm feeling so generous:

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episodes 1 -19 at Marvel.com!  Yes, I know this isn't an anime, but it is a fun show about superheroes that you can watch the first nineteen episodes of legally and for free.  That just needs to be shared.

*Undergraduate degrees totally work like that.  So do apocalypses.