5 Anime for Peoples Who Hate the Japanese and Their Lousy Cartoons

Japanimation was once the super-slick state of the art entertainment medium that was taking the world by storm. Today, not so much. The coke-induced fantasies of the Japanese bubble economy, that got many people like myself into the art form, gave way to a transition period of "HOLY SHIT WE'RE FUCKED!" as the bubble popped. Today Japanese Cartoons sit in the corner rocking back and forth thinking "happy thoughts" to itself as it laments it's lost childhood and dreaming of banging it's kid sister.

Yes it has become pretty shameful to be into this crap. After seeing this I've decided to curb the shame with a list of Anime for different types of people. I'm sure other Japanimation Otaku will disagree, but that's what comment sections are for!

List 1: High Schoolers

Most Anime fans today are high schoolers. These shameless little demons swarm conventions like locusts and eat away any form of social order and human decency that might have been present before, though I cannot confirm if either of those things were ever there in the first place. Keeping this in mind and the fact that high schools have "anime clubs" now this list will be pretty standard fare for most Anime Fans.

5. Dragon Ball Z
4. Trigun
3. Naruto
2. Death Note
1. Bleach

List 2: Fundamentalist Christians

Like teenagers screaming internet memes and wearing signs begging for sexual favors (see List 1) Fundies love to suck away any source of joy and/or common sense out of the world. This lot blindly believes that a collection of books, a bible, was written by some deity and not scribbled down oral traditions like countless other collections similar in themes. Anyway, is Japanese cartoons right for them? Of course it is! GOD made it!

5. Saint Tail
4. Evangelion
3. Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gotaman
2. The Mysterious Cities of Gold
1. SuperBook

List 3: Stay-at-home Mothers

Moms. You've got to love them. Got to love them even more if they stay home with the kids all day. I am so sorry As The World Turns was canceled. But worry not! Turn off the Judge Judy and watch these visual delights!

5. Kaasan - Mom's Life
4. Sailor Moon
3. Code Geass
2. Rose of Versailles
1. Revolutionary Girl Utena

List 4: Film Buffs

These poor souls tend to be un(or under) employed and have squandered away their time in college on a useless film degree. Talking to them about movies is depressing on many levels, not only has their training utterly demystified the art but whatever you like is WRONG.

5. Ghost in the Shell
4. Cowboy Bebop
3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
2. Perfect Blue
1. Akira

List 5: Serial Killers

If you've been into Japanese cartoons as long as I have, you might have wondered why Japan is not over flowing with these guys. Anime, Manga, and Japanese film has some pretty sick shit going on in them. Maybe these things are an outlet for those urges and calms down the crazy killer types so they can go to work the next day. Oh wait a minute. Silly me. I forgot everyone in Japan was unemployed. Well hopefully they can occupy themselves by watching these cartoons instead of, you know, killing people.

5. Death Note
4. SuperBook
3. Crying Freeman
2. Urotosukidoji
1. Doomed Megalopolis

Epilogue

Well, there is my list of 5 lists. To sum it up, lists are bullshit. That's right! I'm a complete sham! A Hack! People like stuff for various reasons, typically they go with the herd, but some people actually have opinions and godbless them for it.

Anime is not popular with the public at large, never has been really. People just know what Anime is now. I'm sure we can cherry pick a few shows that might appeal to the masses but they are in short supply and they are just as hit or miss in terms of catching on as anything else ever made in Hollywood.

Sure, everyone and their mom loved Cowboy Bebop, Princess Mononoke, and Vampire Hunter D. However, some of the Anime I have shown to my non-anime-fan friends, which they liked, are the ones that I would not have guessed they would have liked in the first place. I've shown Captain Tylor and Gunbuster to a few of my friends on a whim, mainly because I felt like watching them, and they've fallen in love with those shows. One of my friends and I talked about Evangelion a lot and got a good number of our non-anime-fan friends into it as a result.

As fans it is not our job to market this stuff aggressively. We're just here to enjoy it and if some friends want to come along for the ride then that's even better.

Superdeformed's Journey into Science Fiction

For those who do not know, I happen to have a dark secret in my past. You see, as a child I failed the forth grade and barely passed the third grade before that. This puzzled my parents and most adults who know me because I was a pretty smart (nerdy) kid. Most of my public school teachers would say, "HE LAZY" (their words mind you) but the few teachers who've actually taken the time to know me were perplexed as well.

I'd always turn in assignments late and/or never keep up with people on tests and reading assignments. It was never a lack of trying I'd stay up til midnight doing homework that I started as soon as cartoons ended for the day (5pm). After a while I'd just skip it anyway and make up for it on tests. But this was all not enough for the 4th grade.

The summer after that dreaded school year my mother took me to an Optometrist. We quickly learned I had Strabismus. I did not a crazy case to where I looked cross-eyed or something like that, I also had 20/20 vision, but it was just enough to where I'd naturally want to read the same sentence over and over. Once I was diagnosed a lot of things about me made sense, why I had a hard time looking people in the eye (it was assumed shyness), why it'd take me hours to read a page of a book, why I was such a slow writer, why I'd literally want to pass out while I did homework and why I'd alway lean my head to the side when I focused on anything.

So after a Summer of eye therapy and I returned to the 4th grade and was on the A/B honor roll the entire year, the rest of my school life I hovered around a C average since I was more interested in other things and I had a pretty turbulent home life. I fucked off for a few years after high school, never intended to go to college, but eventually I went and got my Computer Science degree.

I'm not completely and utterly cured of the Strabismus. I'm still a slow reader and it still wears me out after a while. I guess that's why the fickle nature of the internet has always appealed to me, reading is done in short bursts here. I've always enjoyed being read to I liked stories in long form but unless I had an assignment and a deadline to push me, I have a hard time reading a book. I can never get in a comfortable position and after 10 minutes my eyes will get heavy. After about 2 paragraphs I will notice I'll want to start rereading a sentence and I'll have to close my eyes and remember my old eye exercises and reorientate. Still, I am faster than I was prediagnosis but it's still exhausting.

After college I had no classes requiring me to read, I've grown tired of most Japanese cartoons, and skimming Wikipedia made me long for actually reading the source materials for what my favorite movies and cartoons were influenced or based on. I've always pondered to myself "I should read more" but never get around to it or I've tried a few times and stopped. Then one day it all clicked. I realized why I don't read that much (see above) and it occurred to me I should try audiobooks. Maybe Leo Laporte's Audible ads brainwashed me.

Initially I was a little apprehensive. I wondered if I'd lose anything by not seeing the words or if the reader's performance would mar my perception of the story. After the first book I didn't find any of those problems. I was able to listen to the books during idle times at work, when I was doing the overly mundane kind of tasks I have to do everyday at work, or on my daily commute. Win win since I feel like I have decades of reading to catch up on.

Next time on 'Superdeformed's Journey into Science Fiction' ... Lensman

Super Dimension Space Battle Cruiser Ship Fortress Hyper Fighter Craft LIST THINGY

The other day someone tweeted me this really lame list of someone's favorite spaceships. Anyone worth their salt in nerd lore will immediately notice that a. this guy likes Star Wars, 2. watched that Battlestar Galactica show on TV once, and iii. doesn't understand what repulsorlifts or speeders are.

So after being that guy for a little while mocking the list on twitter I've decided to kick it up a notch and be even more like that guy and make a list of my very own! Not only do I get to prove I have a bigger geek dick than the Orlando Sentinel but I can leave myself utterly exposed to be mocked as well, in addition to all that I will be providing content for this piece of shit awesome blog. Win win for everyone!

Preface: Hard Mode
This list will not contain anything from mainstream television and movies of the last few years. Sorry, no Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, or even popular Anime stuff from Starblazers (aka Yamato), Macross (aka Robotech), Cowboy Bebop, and to make it even harder on myself Gundam! ha! By God! My nerd penis is so HUGE!! Look at me!

The List

123. Dauntless - the Lensman Series.
Not only was it shaped like something Bill Clinton would use to make one of his interns famous, but it was a SUPER-DREADNAUGHT which sounds totally bad-ass! The Dauntless was the favorite ship of everyone's favorite Second Stage Lensman Kimball Kinnison and was the flagship of the Galactic Patrol until it was replaced by the not so bad-ass but way more tactical Z9M9Z command ship.

VI: Exelion - Top o Nerae! Gunbuster
This sweet ride helped defend planet Earth from the galactic immune system and housed not only a huge army of flying robots but the Gunbuster which the show is named after of course. After being decommissioned the Excelion spent it's retirement BEING A BLACK HOLE!

100110101. Hyperion - Legend of the Galactic Heroes

The Hyperion was the flagship of the for great tactician Yang Wen-li of the Free Planets Alliance. For such a simple looking ship no other could command as much respect and fear. Like one time the bad guys attacked the good guys, and like Yang was not on the ship right? And the bad guys were all "oh snap! the Hyperion! We bout' to get f'ed in the a!" and they punked out like a bunch of lil bitches. Yep, that's exactly the kind of show Legend of the Galactic Heroes was.

27. The :D Ship - Heavy Metal
Not only does it look like something from a Van Halen poster but the ship from the So Beautiful and So Dangerous story looks like an adorable "colon dee" smiley face. I on the other hand see it as an ominous red-eyed Quintesson type of thing. Just ignore the green things, go with me on this.

☆☎☜. Heighliner - Dune
This massive ship can fit an entire fleet in it's hull and are the only things capable of traveling long distances in space in the Dune Universe. They're piloted by these things and were involved in the greatest scene in science fiction cinematic history.

111111!1. Arcadia - Uchu Kaizoku Captain Harlock
The Arcadia is the super swank space pirate ship of one Captain Harlock. She's manned by a capable crew of potato-head men and has Harlock's best friend's brain for its computer, or something. Of all the iterations of this ship I like the original blue ship most of all. Check out that bayonet, I mean RAM. You won't see that on a Star Destroyer well maybe if George Lucas wasn't so much of a bitch. Yeah that's right, I'm calling you out George!

Epilogue
That should do it for me. I believe I have cemented my "Geek Cred" beyond a shadow of a doubt and above all else shown to the entire universe that lists are stupid! Unless it's a grocery list because you've got to make groceries or a list people you've slept with, because ,you know STDs, bragging rights, take your pick. I do enjoy David Letterman's top 10 list on occasion as well. Ok, so maybe the jury is out on lists.

Ingest more Scifi, damnit! Leave some feedback (So I know I'm not wasting my time [which I am.]), sing my praises, or to correct any mistakes (as if) in the comments below.

**Thanks to Dave Merrill for the Arcadia picture, and Google® for all the other ones.

Rising Tide 5: A Convention without Cosplay
Serpassing all Expectations

This past weekend A few weekends ago I attended Rising Tide 5, a one day local blogger/rebuilding type of conference down in New Orleans. I was immersed in a crowd of strangers all on my lonesome since none my my friends were interested in going. Now that I think about it, I should have invited Ally since she's pretty prolific on the twitters. Anyway, I did a lot of pacing, drinking, and keeping pretty much to myself. But I did meet a few people along the way.

Day 1: Pre-party

Friday evening I drove down to the Howling Wolf in the Warehouse district. Parking was non-existent so I used a parking garage across the street. I then walked up and in to the Howling Wolf. Inside a band was setting up for a gig. No bloggers to be seen. After asking around by a couple of other attendees who showed up at the same time we discovered the party was in the bar and grill attached to the side. I go in, start my tab, drank a few beers, and watched the Saints game.

At halftime I had enough liquid courage within me to go up to strangers. My typical greeting was "SO, WHICH INTERNET PERSON ARE YOU?" Most people had their real names on their name tags, this is an internet people conference, I needed internet names damnit.

After some Rising Tide staff "fabulous prizes" were awarded the party wound down and people stumbled off to hotel room parties or, in my case, bed.

Day 2: The Actual Conference/After-Party

I kind of slept walked/drove to the conference the next day. After enjoying same baked goods and moving my car to a parking garage instead of parking illegally like other attendees I took and seat and watched the first round of panels. At the initial "smoke break" I got my first beer and pretty much averaged a beer per panel from then on.

Panels were informative and a lil' preachy to the choir at times but that is to be expected. Some of the "questions" by the audience were more people getting on their soap box, kinda reminded me of people calling in to radio talk shows.

My favorite panel had to have been the politics panel, with Clancy DuBos being the MVP. Seeing Ronal Serpas on a panel Serpassed all Expectations™ with me. The keynote speaker was pretty funny, anyone willing to call Bobby Jindal a "fucking douchbag" is a-ok with me.

After the conference I helped carry some donated food to someone's car. After much deliberation by organizers and other attendees the location of the after party was chosen, the Half Moon just off of Magazine Street.

At the after-party I was starting to get a lil more comfortable but I was still in observer mode overall. The bar itself and the cheeseburger was alright. I left slightly later that most, but there was a good 10 left who gave me a round of applause when I left.

Blatant Name Dropping or "Man my first impressions are going to be sooo wrong if I read this 10 years later."

Mark aka Oyster was a nice goofy guy, hung out with him more at the after party. He was one of the few who stood up to my staggering 6'3 3/4" 6'4" frame, he was an inch or two taller than me. We share a birthday with Clint Eastwood, go us.

Jeff from the Library Chronicles, loves piss beer and is just as much of a smartass as I expected. He did a good job of inflating my twitter ego. For some reason he assumed the identity of another blogger at the pre-party to what I can only assume would be to ruin his good name.

Varg from the Chicory seems to be the life of the party, he and his wife gave me some wedding pointers the during one of the smoke breaks, good people. At the after-party he told me about the alcohol lobby he wants to start up.

Lamar of CenLamar was pretty cool, sharp guy. Sucks that he lives in the blander part of the state. Just kidding.

Met one blogger didn't realize who he was then noticed he was Jason Berry aka Ashe Dambala of American Zombie fame. Initially he reminded me of a guy I used to work with in college, then after realizing who he was he came off as some darker internet badass. Silly human perception.

Peter aka Adrastos wacky guy with a nice hat (or was that the other way around?), seemed a lil busy or distracted. His wife was nice and was making everyone feel at home.

Karl was a real bro' he was a reoccurring hangout buddy. I hear he lives a double life in California or was that online? I forget.

Loki aka George aka not a damn Yankee aka so New Orleans he shi... um never mind, had a very rock star attitude. I guess being cramped up in Ohio will make anyone snap in that way? He runs too many websites for me to reference here.

Tim writer of his own namesless blog has a kid into the Animu and put me on the spot about my Hulk shirt at the after party. Dry and sciency which is rad. His Dam(n)/Levee Safety panel was fun.

Derrick and Mags were cool. Though I mainly plotted bank robbery with Derrick on twitter.

Honorable mentions go out to Racymind and Virgotex whose real names fail me now. They were cool chicks.

I met the infamous linchpin of the underground journalistic movement known only as The Lens Karen Gadbois. Didn't talk to her much but she had a real glowing personality to me.

Who else? Leigh and Sharon seemed to be the den mothers of this motley little convention. They were hip dames.

Pistolette was cool, pretty sure she could kick my ass. She had some opposing viewpoints which is good.

I know I am leaving a few people out. I blame the alcohol and social awkwardness. I'm also bad with names. Anyway, didn't really meet a bad person really decent human being.

Epilogue

Rising Tide was a fun conference overall. Next year should be a bit better since I know people now. One more thing, I learned I was almost not allowed in because of the "guyhatesyou" thing. People were wondering if I was some kind of hate group or something. "The one man hate group" I kinda dig that.

RIP SATOSHI KON


On Tuesday Satoshi Kon died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 46. So was it a big deal?

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-25/director-satoshi-kon-wife-writes-about-his-passing

http://subatomicbrainfreeze.typepad.com/subatomic_brainfreeze/2010/08/rip-satoshi-kon-were-lost-without-you.html

http://www.fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1818:rip-perfect-blue-director-satoshi-kon&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=167

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/25/rip-satoshi-kon.html

http://www.uk-anime.net/newsitem/Director_Satoshi_Kon_passes_away.html

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/anime/satoshi-kon-1963-2010.html

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/41520/

http://www.avclub.com/articles/rip-paprika-and-perfect-blue-director-satoshi-kon,44534/

(Update 8/26/2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/arts/design/26kon.html?_r=1

http://raiwebs.blogspot.com/2010/08/satoshi-kon-dreamer.html

http://www.giantrobot.com/index.php/blogs/martin-post/satoshi_kon_rip

http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/Anime/News1/Satoshi_Kon_Memories_3374.aspx

http://www.japanator.com/satoshi-kon-1963-2010-16301.phtml

You damn right it is. Kon was one of the few Japanese Animation directors who made movies that appealed not only Anime fans but to film buffs and genre fans alike. It felt like his career was only at the beginning and it's a damn shame he won't be around to fulfill my selfish needs as a fan.

PS: I'll be adding more links to this if I come across them.

Louisiana's Master (amateur) Chefs


Last night I caught the last half of that new Gordon Ramsay show Masterchef. Noticed that one of the contestants reminded me of someone. Initially, I figured it was that he looked kind of like Al Gore. A few minutes later they displayed "Max - LA" and it prompted me to think, "I think I went to high school with that dude."

A Google search or two later I found his full name then searched him on Facebook, we had several mutual friends thus verifying my suspicions. I also noticed that two of the contestants were from down here as well, a two woman, one from Vacherie and the other from Harvey.

I'm surprised the local media has not gotten wind of this and started airing stories or whatever. So I guess I win? Take that MEDIA!

Remember Remember the 26th of Julytember

(8:54:18 AM) 82427930: I've invented a holiday today.
(8:54:24 AM) Louis: ?
(8:54:35 AM) 82427930: Tweet like an Anime Fan day.
(8:54:45 AM) Louis: damn you

To watch this forced meme fail go to:
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23TweetLikeAnAnimeFan

I'm just dumping some thinking I've been doing. It's most likely ill-informed and grossly generalized.

The severe flaw of democracy (The first person who says, "BUT WE'RE A REPUBLIC" is getting smacked) is that no one person is in control and bureaucracy is in place to keep it fair. As a result varying interpretations of the rules leads to paradoxes and confusion in execution. As a whole the system works because we're not all dead or living in a the 3rd world, well most of us anyways. But it is not swift and organized as a totalitarian dictatorship or monarchy under a good ruler,the death blow to that system is succession of course.

Right now we have a strong contingent in our society that proclaims business as the way to go. However businesses are essentially there to make money, while it may benefit them to help society in the long run the immediate need to provide dividends to stakeholders will result in catastrophe (ie oil spill, housing crisis, credit crisis, energy policy ect..). Businesses behave much like faster moving totalitarian systems or even small democracies but due to their size. When compared to our bulky multi-tiered government they will of course seem more appealing since the average jerk on the street can wrap their mind around it.

Balls

Last Night I caught Jimmy Fallon singing about not swimming in the gulf because you might get tar balls in your mouth. Why anyone would swim on a Louisiana beach is beyond me, surf fishing makes way more sense. But anyways, I can't help but feel like I've had a big sweaty oil-soaked set of balls in my mouth the last month or so. So enjoy.

With all this talk of balls and attending a WWF show in the Arena last night I couldn't help but think back to this.

Maybe BP stands for More Balls Please? No that'd be MBP.

Whatever.

Maybe NBC can sell Fallon's song on iTunes and have the money go to the Gulf Coast restoration or something like that. Just planting seeds. Seeds are kind of like balls.

How to Properly View the TOP KILL

or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Oil

Step 1: Aquire a copy of Boots Randolf's Yakety Sax.

Step 2: Install Media Player Classic Home Cinema (or install it as part of Combined Community Codec Pack).

Step 3: Open Media Player Classic Home Cinema.


Step 4: Click File then Open File... (or Press ctrl+O).


Step 5: Under Open copy and paste "http://mfile.akamai.com/97892/live/reflector:46245.asx" and under Dub browse to your Yakety Sax mp3 file and click OK.

Step 6: Notice that it doesn't work and just open the song in winamp and leave it on repeat while you watch the video in MPC.

WHO DAT SAY WE GONNA HAVE AN ELECTION?

Christ, it seems like we have an election every other week down here. Something tells me that the proximity of Mardi Gras and City elections are hardly coincidental. But I doubt those who benefit most from it will do much to change it, I'm pretty sure the Super Bowl only makes it all the more sweet for them. Perhaps if the complacent masses were to engage in some sort of collective bitching we might be able to get the elections moved to a less cluttered time of the year (tangent loosely inspired by this).

I get an erection for a good election. However this political season has been rather blah. I mean Nagin is finally going away (fun fact: His last day in office is May31st which also happens to be my birthday)! We should be engaging in the kinds of public fornication as seen moments after Hartly's field goal. Instead we are left with the kind of line up that would inspire MC Hammer into taking up ballet.

Of course maybe this is what we need. We've spent centuries of having entertaining, charismatic, leaders who robbed us blind. We like to blame "those corrupt bastards" in power, however when it comes time to vote them out we blame so in so in district whatever and vote back in binky the clown and his wonderful bag of cream pies that we enjoy having smashed into our collective faces! (yeah, I don't know where I was going with that.)

(Warning: Sports Analogy) Sure we could have the flashy popular or charismatic bad boys like LA Lakers or Detroit Pistons in office, or we can have the boring ass San Antonio Spurs that is always in the championship game or damn near close to it year after year. Public office should be boring filled with people who go into work and simply work. Maybe we should bring in some asshole (i.e. competent) IT guy to block off facebook and ebay so they can maybe spend more time scrubbing that budget instead of posting pictures of their celebrity doppelganger on Facebook.

Anyway the Mayor's race is a joke, instead of debating issues and policy they pretty much claim they are going to do the same thing and they only debate on experience, who's got their back, or how black they are. Nothing of substance. As a result Landrieu is more than likely winning with no run off, so let's forget that race and focus on the other ones.

Assessor
The most important race in my opinion. The city had seven assessors that pretty much ran uncontested for years, and what I mean by years I mean double, no triple digits! Claude Mauberret III's family has held their spot for the 2nd District for 100 years. Errol Williams has held his seat since 1984. The 3rd major candidate Janis Lemle was a deputy assessor to reformer Nancy Marshall who unseated long term assessor in the 6th District.

It's pretty clear cut who has my vote here. Keep an eye out for these race-bating fliers. When handed one be sure to point and laugh at the idiot who gave it to you. If it was left in your mailbox or on your door I guess you can laugh at those instead. I don't think laughing at a mail box is a felony.

Sheriff/Coroner/Judges
Has an incumbent Sheriff (in any parish) ever lost a reelection bid? Has their handpicked successor ever lost? Why do we even vote for them? Why do we vote for the Sheriff but not the Chief of Police? Why do we vote for the fucking Coroner? Why aren't Judges just appointed and approved by elected officials like the supreme court? Seriously I don't know, please explain this to me!

City Council District A
Since I live in Lakeview and too lazy to cover the other District seats I'll just cover District A. Didn't we (I was still living on the Northshore at the time, so maybe I should say you?) vote out Jay Batt after Katrina and hate his guts? Shelly Midura seemed to be pretty cool and I was digging what she's been doing with her hair lately. Wish she'd run again. I guess I'm rooting for Guidry since she has a better chance of beating Batt.

City Council LIVIN' AT LARGE
No one is really talking about this race too much. Fielkow and Clarkson are gonna win again. No one have given me any good dirt for this one. Most seem to like Fielkow. Eh.

Well I'm out of material, go vote before you get hammered! Go Saints! Fuck ESPN! I'm sick of Katrina Human interest stories! I like big butts and I cannot lie!

Merry Kissmyass: Part 1
Wrasseling with the Hosilidays

For some reason the bloggers down in the Chocolate city have a real sadistic streak during the holidays. So, since I live in NOLA and I guess this is a blog, here I go.

2009: Almost as awesome as 1999!
Only no Dreamcast.

Hot on the heels of hurricane Katrina comes Tokyo Magnitude 8.0! I guess Japan got a little jealous of all the attention China and Myanmar have been getting recently. So, if god won't give you a natural disaster, call up Studio Bones!

Being a survivor of natural disasters I can appreciate the situation. However, these kids are totally fucking stupid. (Nothing but professionalism here!) They wonder off and nearly get Tokyo Tower dropped on their heads every damn episode. Definitely not as good as it could have been, but it's nice to see a non-moe Anime with a pretty harsh ending.


Ever wake up in front of the White House, naked, with a gun in your hand, with amnesia? Oh and you look like someone out of Honey and Clover? Well, if the answer is no. Then you were not the main character of Eden of the East.

This Production I.G. cartoon begins in America with a Japanese co-ed tossing money at the White House, because I guess that's how the kids make wishes these days? Anyway, as Engrish speaking cops come to stop her, a naked Japanese guy appears out of nowhere with a gun and wackiness ensues. Explaining any further kinda ruins the story. Warning: Series ends on a cliffhanger, but it will be wrapped up with two movies at the end of this year/early next year.

Finally, the most badass Japanese cartoon of 2009! Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen!

If you're like me, you might have grown up in a magical time period known as the 1980's. Then you might remember a lil' cartoon show called Tranzor Z. Years later I learned that good ol' Tranzor was really good ol' Mazinger, and some crazy dude named Go Nagai created it. Golly.

Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen (True Mazinger IMPACT! Z Chapter) is a re-imagining of the original series and a homage to Go Nagai done much in the same way as Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still (a homage to Mitsuteru Yokoyama). Both series pulled in characters from their creator's other works and added in more back story and depth than the originals ever had. It should be no surprise that both of these cartoons were headed by the same man, Yasuhiro Imagawa.

Watch this show, it kicks ass, better yet it rocket punches asses! Wait, that doesn't sound right. If that didn't sell you then check out Subatomic Brainfreeze's Shin Mazinger HYPE.

Next time on Superdeformed Hates the Internet: Guy is going to ramble about maybe one show at a time. He's tired of lists. Will there be more talking in the 3rd peron? Will there be better proofreading? Will we found out who shot J.R.?! Stay tuned.

2009 Anime Year in Review
Part1: None of these shows aired in 2009!

The 9th year of the 2000's was a pretty fun time for me as an Anime fan. I didn't go to any conventions I just watched shows, read blogs and listened to podcasts. So here's a review of the Japanese cartoons I watched and actually liked this past year in the chronological order they were released. Kinda.

From the ass of the 90's:

This year I rewatched One Piece up to the current episodes (well, minus the fillers) with my new roommates. Always a fun show, though the animation is getting so badthat I might have to read the Manga instead as one of my roommates opted to do half way through.

It was interesting to see how much of the older episodes was retcon versus actual foreshadowing. It's still a show I'd highly recommend Anime fans to at least check out. Better than shows that's named after household cleaners and ninjas dressed in bright orange.

2007: A fine year, had I actually remembered it.

Another show that did not air in Japan this year but I thoroughly enjoyed was 2007's Baccano. Based off a series of light novels (raito nobaru, haha), Baccano follows the rambunctious exploits of thieves, mobsters, serial killers, bootleggers, and journalists in 1930's America (fuck yeah).

Directed by Takahiro Omori (key animator to classics such as Madox-01 and Akari's BAOH, he's directed quite a few shows including the adaptation of Power Stone of all things) the Anime covered the first 3 novels. I would highly suggest watching the show first and not read any kind of summaries or wiki's on it. It's best to go in completely blind. Hell forget everything I've written about it.

2008: The Year the Economy Died

While some of us lost our jobs, 401ks, and homes, Japan decided to slip a few shows under the radar. This past year I caught up with a few of these series; the Adult Swim-ready Astro Fighter Sun Red, Manglobe's Michiko E Hatchin, and the bastard child of Akagi, Eyeshield 21, and a League of their Own, One Outs!

Tentai Senshi Sunred, Astro Fighter Sunred, Sunred, Sun Red, whatever the hell you call this show, follows the exploits of the "friend of justice" Sunred as he battles the evil General Vamp and his army of ghastly grotesque monsters. Not for the faint of heart, this show gets things rolling with an epically sweet battle in front of a local beef bowl shop. If that fight didn't totally roundhouse kick your grandmother in the face while wailing out the solo to Freebird then, bear witness to the bone chilling ambush Vamp and his minions unleash upon Sunred as he waits in line to get Melonpan!

Ok, on a serious note, remember when Adult Swim was good? Remember Mighty Morphin Power Rangers? Take out the Zords, Master Shake, and Tigerbeat centerfolds and you pretty much have Sunred. A show way better than the sum of it's parts. Trust me.

Yo dog, I heard you like gambling and sports, so Japan put sports in a gambling cartoon and gave you Pete Rose, I mean One Outs. Lame memes aside, One Outs is a straight up gambling show set inside of a baseball Anime. If you enjoy shows like Touch, H2, and Major you won't necessarily enjoy One Outs as much as fans of gambling series like Akagi and Kaiji.

As for the plot, it's pretty much the Shaquille O'Neill cinematic masterpeice Blue Chips except replace Nick Nolte with a professional baseball player, replace college basketball with Japanese professional baseball, and add in Al Davis (yeah I'm forcing this). Anyway, a gambler/pitching genius goes to the pros, the team owner is a dick, lots of eternal monologues, and some people play baseball. I just eat this crap up. What I don't eat up is that fujoshi-pandering opening.

The final 2008 Anime I enjoyed in 2009 was Michiko E Hatchin. This fine show was produced by Manglobe, who made awesome non-moe shows such as Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy. Though it's easily comparable to Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, the director of the two, Shinichiro Watanabe only the music producer. It's a damn shame it was not as popular as Bebop or Champloo since crap like Lucky Star and Kanon are flooding the market.

The plot revolves around Michiko, hardened fugitive and an orphan with a Cinderella complex, Hana. They are on the run from the cops and in search of Hana's father/Michiko's Ex. The setting is South American though never specifically stated where and everyone has a Japanese first name and a Hispanic last name (ex. Michiko Malandro, Shinsuke Rodriguez, ect..). The music is a key character to the show much as it was in Clampoo and Watanabe's Bebop, which was very south of the border and lively.

Coming up next: Shows I liked that were made in 2009 (not in the year 3000)!

Coming soon, due to a very uninteresting fall season:

Superdeformed's 2009 Anime Year in Review!

Be prepared for bad-ass giant robots, cartoons that didn't actually air in 2009, and magical cellphones that will grant your every wish!

A few people (namely my girlfriend) expressed disbelief when I mentioned in a previous post that I do not see Barack Obama as a Liberal.

My personal definition of a Liberal, is a leftist (socialist) who is pro-choice, supports gay rights, and sympathetic to minority issues (ie immigration and civil rights). Obama does lean "left" as it's framed between the two parties we have in power right now; however, they are not too left or right themselves. Although, that's another issue completely.

Right-wing talking heads would have you believe that the bank bailouts and Obama's health-care reform is a high-step march to socialism. Socialists seem to disagree.

(Billy Wharton, Washington Post)

The first clear indication that Obama is not, in fact, a socialist, is the way his administration is avoiding structural changes to the financial system. Nationalization is simply not in the playbook of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his team. They favor costly, temporary measures that can easily be dismantled should the economy stabilize. Socialists support nationalization and see it as a means of creating a banking system that acts like a highly regulated public utility. The banks would then cease to be sinkholes for public funds or financial versions of casinos and would become essential to reenergizing productive sectors of the economy.

Wharton then goes on to criticize Obama's proposed health care reform.

A national health insurance system as embodied in the single-payer health plan reintroduced in legislation this year by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), makes perfect sense to us. That bill would provide comprehensive coverage, offer a full range of choice of doctors and services and eliminate the primary cause of personal bankruptcy -- health-care bills. Obama's plan would do the opposite. By mandating that every person be insured, ObamaCare would give private health insurance companies license to systematically underinsure policyholders while cashing in on the moral currency of universal coverage. If Obama is a socialist, then on health care, he's doing a fairly good job of concealing it.

As for the GM/Chrysler bailout liberals suggest that the government should take possession of these companies and use them to build a national mass transit system and alternative-powered cars (Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com). On the other hand, Obama claims he only wants to restructure the companies and have them pay off their "loans" all the while with minimal government management (David E. Sanger,NY Times).

(Barack Obama, Reuters)

If GM and Chrysler were willing to do what was necessary to make themselves competitive and if taxpayers were repaid every dime they put on the line, it was a process worth supporting. We saved hundreds of thousands of jobs as a result and expect to get our money back.

In recent gay rights news, Obama deviates from social liberals. The White House and Republicans pressured a Florida congressman into removing an amendment to a defense appropriation bill that would remove funding to investigate "don't ask, don't tell" violations (George Bennett, Palm Beach Post). Obama is even opposed to gay marriage, though he is cool with civil unions (James Kirchick, Washington Post).

President Barack "Barry" Obama is by no means a Republican or a bible thumping-Regan Worshiping-Neoconservative. He is definitely a Democrat, but not a pinko liberal spawn of Devine and Lenin.

IF YA SMEEELLLLLLLLL.....

.... WHAT THE BARACK. IS. COOKIN'

Here's a Tweet I made that became a Facebook discussion. Enjoy.

Me

1,000,000,000/4500 = 222,222.23ish.. Therefore over 222,222 cars were bought and over the same amount are to be crushed?

Friend #1

this is the worst idea i've ever heard.

Me

What idea? it was already done. They're about to pump 2 billion more into it. Overall fuel economy goes up and a dead automotive industry gets business.

Friend #2

oh yeah and the wonderful thing is...My bf's car which is a REAL clunker probably wouldn't even qualify! The damn thing is falling apart (literally) but it probably gets over 18 to the gal. so yeah. BRIGHT IDEAS FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

Friend #1

here's my problem with it... when they made the stimulus package to pay house notes for people who had fallen behind on their mortgage it ended up that something like 85% of those people were foreclosed on anyway because even though the government picked up the tab on a few months they still didn't have the income to support the monthly bill in the... Read More long runl. why will this be any different? if i'm making $300 a week and barely able to feed myself and pay rent every month then what makes the government think that paying my down payment for a new car will make me able to afford the monthly payment? i promise you 6 months to a year from now we'll be seeing the fallout from this when all these new cars are being repossessed by the thousands. i'd rather have a "clunker" that's mine than drive a nice car for a while then have it taken away and be left with nothing.

Me

Bitching about one government program to put down another is baseless, and whining about how you're not covered by it therefore it sucks is just as retarded.

Friend #1

it's not baseless, it's establishing a pattern. socialism has never worked. what's baseless is thinking that it will now just because it has a more eloquent spokesperson.

Friend #2

i'm not bitching. I'm just saying that it's a pointless to call it cash for clunkers (on top of the program being dumb all in itself). That's misleading. Because there are going to be the people who have shitty cars (like my boyfriends) who would be able to afford a car with the extra money from the program only to get turned out because it's not... Read More really a "clunker" on their terms. It's like a retail store doing a sale but printing out a misleading ad for it... Only the government is controlling it.

and i think your an ass. :P

Me

"socialism has never worked." Scandinavia would like to have a word with you. Also, America would never be able to become a full on socialist state. Nor would it ever be completely capitalistic. The whole point of forming a government is so we do not have to rely on private enterprise for everything and to give the people an outlet to change the course of things. Obama was elected, deal with it. Take some solace that he's center left and not full liberal.

"Cash for Clunkers" is a term coined by the media not the government the program is called the Car Allowance Rebate System. It's to stimulate spending while increasing fuel efficiency of the overall US fleet. Sucks that your BF's POS car does not qualify, but it's geared to get SUV's off the road not a broke down Camry or Sentra, ect.

Over 200,000 cars sold in one WEEK will do more for the economy than any of the other programs of the recovery bill. I'm glad at least one part of the stimulus is obviously working.

Friend #1

time will be the tell, guy. if the people can pay for these cars and keep them, then the program was a success. if more of them end up being repossessed than not, then it was a failure. other than that i have nothing else to say.

Me

Actually, that's more a problem of the credit industry, but they are being very tight-assed on credit right now. Of course high unemployment complicates this all. But I don't think inaction is a solution. "No questions asked" blank checks to banks is not action BTW.

Friend #1

how 'bout we close the fed?

Me

No, not enough of a case against them, yet. Credit rating agencies are the ones to blame for this recession. Collusion among industry leaders is another huge problem.

I'm for re-regulation (make new regulations while getting rid of the old regulation), not deregulation or more regulation. However none of the major parties (including Libertarians) are not voicing this opinion to my knowledge.

I wish the problems with our government could be summed up to "those damn liberals" or "those stupid fucking republicans" or even "it's the two party system, man!" The problems lie with the voters, the system in place, popular option, the media, big business, and of course the special interest groups. All side are against the people (especially the people themselves).

This is pretty much raw, so don't expect much in the way of proofreading. If anyone has anything to add, then feel free to comment.

N.O. Place for Good I.T.

Other bloggers have done a better job of covering this new cycle than I ever could. So give them some love.

http://righthandthief.blogspot.com/2009/03/as-ernie-banks-would-say-lets-play-twos.html
http://wecouldbefamous.blogspot.com/2009/03/simple-politics-nuanced-reality.html
http://peoplegetready.jockamofeenanay.com/?p=2739

All I can offer is some commentary from my experience in Information Technology.

First off any major city like New Orleans should have a good enough server to house a decent email system like Microsoft Exchange at the very least. I've worked for a government institution which was yearly audited by the FBI and other agencies and we had to maintain emails for over 300 end users and keep all the emails on the server which was incrementally backed up daily and fully backed up every month. The server could be completely empty, but the tape library would have all emails (mind you it would take a while to extract them all) public records requests can be carried out.

Nagin claiming there was no way to keep more than a week's worth of emails on the server could be technically true, but if there was no proper backup system in place then the head of the city's IT department should have been fired or even fined, fuck it, both. Oh yeah the Camera system thing is even more icing on the cake. Oh and giving out email logs to the wrong department, also another fireable offense. Jesus.

Locally and nationally things are getting pretty interesting.

Not to say I agree with any of those childish Republicans for their 100% NO vote, they want the stimulus to be all tax cuts.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Tax Cuts ($275 billion)
Education Investments ($141.6 billion)
Health-care Investments ($112.1 billion)
Welfare/Unemployment ($102 billion)

Infrastructure Investments ($90 billion)

Energy Investments ($58 billion)
Federal Motor Fleet ($600 million)

Meanwhile China tosses up to $585 Billion at their infrastructure. Most likely less, but still way over our measly $90 billion.

I could care less about a tax break. Leave everything else the same, take all those tax cuts and put them into infrastructure investments, and I'll be 100% behind it.

Once again, both sides are wrong.

Superdeformed's Best Anime Crap of 2008 (Part 2)


Best 10+ Year Old Series Released in America in 2008:

Yawara A Fashionable Yudo Girl - Yawara Inokuma is your normal teenager in 1980's/90's Japan but she hold a deep dark secret, Judo. Jigorou Inokuma, 5-time All-Japan Judo Champion wishes to mold his dim-witted granddaughter Yawara into the next Olympic Gold Metalist and National Merit Award-holder.

If you like Maison Ikkoku chances are this would be the show for you. Even though GoLion was a fun release this show is an overall better show, also Animeigo released this set with a big thick book of extras I have yet to read. Extras you'll never use are always fun.

I was going to do more, but I think that will do it for this year.

So right now I'm gonna rip-off Anime New Network.

Superdeformed's Best Anime Crap of 2008 (Part 1)

*Most of this will be stuff that was release in Japan this year, if it has to do with what was released in America I'll say so.*

Best Almost Good Series:
Allison to Lillia - Definitly inspired by Nadia and much like Nadia has it's blah parts. However this series doesn't quite overcome it's shortcomings.

This 26 episode TV series is based on two light novel (LN) series by
Keiichi Sigsawa is a series of very short and rushed adventures of two kids (and later their kid) in very early 1900's-like world just getting past their version of WW1 (only it went on much longer).

Given a larger episode count maybe this could have worked. The setting, characters (except one), and plot were almost there, they were all likable, but needed more development. Since there was little to no set up there was never a feeling of urgency during any of the climaxes, it never felt like the bad guys could win.

The first half (based off the Allison LN series) was by far the best part of this show. Wilhelm and Allison pretty decent characters and the transition to the Lillia to Treize half honestly surprised me. Treize was a decent character as well, but Lillia was a worthless bitch.

Had this series simply been Allison then I'd be singing it's praises and eagerly awaiting 2009's follow up series. Instead I see a butt-ton of wasted potential and what could have been.

Best Almost Bad Series:
Macross Frontier - The love triangle. Mistakenly, the main focus of the Superdemension Macross universe. I feel it's a needed key element, but it should not be the main focus as it has been since the final arc of the original TV series. This series just managed to squeek by and be good unlike the other recent series Macross Zero.

The Bad:
Ranka Lee, in the grand tradition of Linn Minmei she is the dumb/selfish/annoying idol singer of this series.

Referencing Macross Zero as cannon. Sure they could ignore Macross II but not Zero. Damn you Shoji Kawamori!

Pandering to all fan demographics. Sure the mecha porn (not robots having sex) I accept since this is a mecha show, but there is way too much moe' (not just limited to little girls) and high school hijinks.

Shoji Kawamori. Stick to designing jets, ok?

The in the middle:
Fold Technology + Singing. This was almost an Episode 1 Metachlorians situation all over again, but luckily it didn't turn out to be the case.

The character designs, definitely not Mikimoto but not horrible either.

The good:
Sticking to the basics. Epic space war with unknown alien? Check. Love Triangles? A little too much check. This is a Macross series. No space whales, no flying rocks, no singing at the enemy instead of shooting them.

Bobby. Normally he's flaming gay and making passes at the male cast, but when he's at the helm of the Macross Quarter he's a manly man of BURNING PASSION.

Homage to the original series. I'm not going to point them all out, but they also pull some fake-out homages like the pine salad homage in episode 17.

The music. Sure it's J-pop, but at least it's good j-pop. Not my favorite style music, but I can hear that it's well put together.

The animation. For a TV series it's fucking outstanding, it can hold it's own with Movies and OAVs as well. The mecha combat is some fun stuff. Animation recycling is done subtly so it's barely noticed.

------------------

To be continued....

Here's some passing opinions floating around in my head.

Charity/VA Hospital:
Sure a swank, progressive, modern, and economically attractive Biomedical district would be nice. But it's not funded, the city needs health care 3 years ago, and it would demolish an otherwise ok neighborhood (though the area along Tulane Ave can still be leveled). I can see the arguments both sides are making though.

Big 3 Bailout:
Impose fuel economy restrictions sooner, give them their little loan, move on. Too bad congress dropped the ball now President notsolameducker is taking care of it. Though these idiots deserve to go under, they have a few million people and other industries hostage. We need to invent new things to produce.

Economic Stimulus:
Conservatives complaining about a balanced budget during a major recession is stupid. Driving up a huge deficit while the economy is prosperous is just as stupid. One Trillion on infrastructure (not just roads) is way more appealing than bailing out some huge companies. Of course huge contractors would benefit a lot, ah well.

Obama's Cabinet:
I'm a centralist, he's a centralist, let's make out! If you wanted change change then you should have voted 3rd party. Obama and the Clintons are democrats so, why so suprised? Obama is idealistic, but not stupid. Sorry far left.

Seems like the local bloggers are having some Christmas Video Wars. Those posts have links to others.

I counter with some youtube poop.

Goodnight sweet prince.

Don't forget to vote this Saturday!

The main, well only, item on my ballot is the 2nd Congressional District election.

Here's the choices:

Anh "Joseph" Cao:
Definitely my favored candidate. Sure he's republican, but he's progressive on immigration reform. His background is interesting, well educated, and backed by a major party (which is usually a bad thing to me). For a better article click here.

William J. Jefferson

Gregory W. Kahn:
Libertarians are fun and I agree on a few of their stances, but the overall concept still falls flat. Wacky Centralists like me can't get too into them since they are pretty much anarchists with the capitalism. Hell the guy doesn't even have a website, how unhip can a candidate of a hip 3rd party be?

Malik Rahim
Definitely has the nicest website, however to the chagrin of all the silly liberals out there, he's a fringe candidate. Even uttering BLACK PANTHER is political suicide in closet racist Louisiana. No chance of winning. I know elections are not a horse race, but there should be a degree of cost benefit analysis. If he magically wins I won't mind.

I'm voting for the little Vietnamese guy. But if you want an endorsement.

THIS BLOG HERBY ENDORSES ANYONE BUT BILL JEFFERSON FOR CONGRESS.