As a minor update to my previous entry on gloves ,I have since gotten some neoprene paddling gloves for biking in coldrain (as I planned at the time). Specifically I got the MEC Humboldt2mm gloves. They have been a complete success in this role.

Initially I thought that the gloves would be too cold (since they seemto be only partially neoprene with some thinner, more cloth-like liningat the sides of the fingers) but in actual use they've turned out tobe more

(There are spoilers here.)

By the end of episode 7 of Pirates , it's become obvious thatthe 'privateering' that the eponymous pirates are doing is infact pretty much a stage show, admittedly a stage show that issometimes conducted with live ammunition. This is rather odd,as noted by omonomono in Mouretsu Pirates Are Like Maid Cafe Maids .I was recently struck with a theory for why the privateers are stillaround in this odd way.

First, I'll run down some things that

Black ★ Rock Shooter (and that's the last time I am addingthe ★ character to its title) is technically part of thewinter 2012 season ; it just started a month or soafter everything else.

I thought that the Black Rock Shooter OVA had decently nice actionbut was otherwise mostly incomprehensible. The first episode of the TVseries reduces the action and makes it less comprehensible (and morerandom) while swapping out everything else for relatively pedestriandrama (admittedly with a crazy person or two

Due to some things that do not fit into the margins of this blog,watching anime in general has recently stopped being as casual andenjoyable a thing as it used to be. Because of this I'm stronglyconsidering trimming the list of shows I'm watching down to things thatI seriously enjoy, as opposed to stuff that's just okay. So I've decidedto make a list (or two). Because of what this is, there is a lot ofpicking on negative aspects of

(There are spoilers here for Alien Nine .)

Once upon a time there was an anime called Alien Nine , which wasa four episode OVA series about three gradeschool girls who are'volunteered' to be their school's alien control officers. Especiallyit's the story of Yuri Otani, who really hates everything involvedwith the job; she hates the symbiotic Borg that now lives on top of herhead, she hates the dangerous alien animals that they have to fight (andideally capture alive, and then

One of the things that Last Exile - Fam, The Silver Wing featuresrelatively prominently is fleet battles with those flying battleships.Unfortunately I find them essentially completely free of drama, whichrobs the whole thing of a lot of the point.

The direct reason that I find them mostly free of drama is that in anearlier clash with the Silvius, it's been solidly established thatthe fleet gunners of the Ades Federation have all of the accuracy ofImperial Stormtroopers; despite outnumbering the Silvius many to one andhaving it

Via Author , lolikitsune tweets :

watched Mouretsu Space Pirates 3: noise in space. SEEMS LIKE THESUCCESSOR TO STARSHIP OPERATORS IS NOT HERE YET

I like handwaving, so let me make an excuse for Pirates here.Actually, two of them. The first excuse is that a certain amountof noise might come through contact with the hull and thus withhull vibrations caused by the various machinery operating. Butthat's probably not good enough.

The second excuse is that everyone was in what we're told are very

In response to my entry on zero-G in Pirates , Author noted that problems with zero-G are pervasive and pointed to an example in Rocket Girls (and noted that he's learned not to be bothered by it).

For me, Pirates is different from something like Rocket Girls in twoways. First and most important is that the zero-G mistakes in Pirates are so obvious that I've actually noticed them. I am not an alert watcherfor technical details; I'm generally happy

Pirates has made the unusual decision to not use artificial gravityin the sole spaceship that we've seen; instead all of the areas of theship we've seen so far have been in zero G. (It's possible that part ofthe living quarters have gravity from spin, but the bridge and main shipareas don't.)

Unfortunately there is one bit of how Pirates is handling the zero Gsequences that gets to me. It's not how everyone's skirts are apparentlynailed