tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-204542412011-04-22T01:31:45.597-04:00Al b'ik'al means "scribbler" in Mayan. It's an ode to my ancestors and nicely sums up the contents of this blog: my thoughts, observations, speculation and random musings on pop culture, anime in particular.Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1140913372607979852006-02-25T16:59:00.000-05:002006-02-26T19:51:59.680-05:00

So, I finally get around to talking about the series proper. Lots of stuff has transpired since my last post on this topic. We got a new OP, some death, some revelations, lots of melodrama, lots of angst, and lots of questionable writing. All of which I'll try to touch on here with the help (or not) of some screen caps. Check here and here for better screencaps and summaries.Heroic Trio:Well,

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1140671188886346112006-02-22T21:06:00.000-05:002006-02-23T00:20:37.256-05:00

So, on a lark, I started playing my entire iTunes library at work beginning with the most played song on down. With just over 4400 songs in my library, and only playing during business hours, it's been well over a month since I started and today I reached the 3's, meaning the songs that have only ever been played 3 times. So, looking at my Top 25 Most Played, I find that 9 of them are anime

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1139802092662041762006-02-12T21:31:00.000-05:002006-02-12T22:52:12.050-05:00

So, the wife and I have been casually watching the Adult Swim run of Inuyasha since it started. This week's episode was unintentionally hilarious. Basically the episode revolves around a demon force feeding women of a village it's progeny to control them so it can feast on men. Our heroes have to blah, blah, blah. (Check the summaries here if you're really interested.) If you've watched Inuyasha

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1138323390327083102006-01-26T19:45:00.000-05:002006-01-26T19:56:30.343-05:00

Welcome to Part 2 of Mai Otome: the Rambling Essay. Though Zyl seems to think I should give it a more academic sounding name. His suggestion: A Speculative History of Earl’s Politics, Technology and the Otome System. Honestly though, I'm not sure this should be taken any more seriously than, say, your typical "zOMGWTFBBQ, SHIZNAT YURI FTW!!!!!!11111one", simply because I'm not a scholar of any

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1137308759492813442006-01-15T01:21:00.000-05:002006-01-15T02:06:02.210-05:00

While not as hyped as Fate/Stay Night this is another series with some buzz, though I'm sure the buzz is greatest amongst yuri fans. There was some anticipation on the Yuricon and Yuri MLs notably. Again, check the anime blog aggregators for screencaps, and commentary, and Damn The Torpedoes! FULL SPOILERS AHEAD!Erica has done out of order reviews on the first 3 volumes of the Kashimashi manga,

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1137305162046507752006-01-14T23:17:00.000-05:002006-01-15T01:08:39.843-05:00

Before I get back to Part 2 of my MO ramblings I thought I'd share my thoughts on some new series that started airing this month. Fate/Stay Night is probably the most anticipated series in recent memory, well, at least I think it is, given that it's talked about in most forums I've been to, and everybody seems to be blogging it. Don't believe me? Check out Anime Blog Toshokan or the Animeblogger

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136757904658572312006-01-14T21:52:00.000-05:002006-01-18T11:18:32.936-05:00

Speaking of series that I care way too much about, let's talk Mai Otome. Again I'm going to presume that people reading this know what the series is about and what's been happening. For screencaps, episode summaries, and commentary see Zyl, Random Curiosity and, especially, Mentar. So SPOILERS AHEAD and all that. I'm going to start with a speculative history of the Mai Otome world, based on what

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136866459611701502006-01-09T22:39:00.000-05:002006-01-09T23:14:19.640-05:00

So, ANN reports today that they've confirmed that Tokyopop has the license to the Crest/Banner of the Stars Novels. This makes me happy. I started watching this series on Anime Unleashed on what used to be TechTV, and watched the sequels Banner of the Stars I and II and the new Banner of the Stars III OVA that was released last year. And I really like this series, again it's the characters for me

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136757908968678212006-01-09T20:52:00.000-05:002006-01-09T22:32:46.820-05:00

So, Hayao Miyazaki is one of those directors that if you're into the genre, you have to watch his stuff, if for no other reason than nobody will take you seriously when you say you're a student of genre and haven't seen any of his stuff. It's like a film student having never watched a Kubrick or Scorsese movie. Having said that, I like most of his stuff. Princess Mononoke was good, Laputa: Castle

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136349305838387832006-01-07T23:24:00.000-05:002006-01-08T01:53:24.610-05:00

So, honestly, this show is really what prompted me to start this blog: I needed a place to vent. If you haven't been following this show, this probably won't make any sense to you whatsoever. Oh, and I suppose I'll just put a "SPOILERS AHEAD" warning here, because I'm going to presume that somebody somewhere may happen to stumble across this post and be annoyed that I had the gall to presume

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136345526545191862006-01-03T21:52:00.000-05:002006-01-03T22:33:29.756-05:00

December ended up being a stand out month of movies for me. I saw four movies (I'm counting HP, even though I did see it on the first day of the New Year) in the theater in a four week span, which is more movies than I think I've gone to in about 2 years. (Honestly, I can't remember the last time I saw a theatrical release every week.) Anyway, my wife and some friends, mostly the girlfriends of

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136329258434546522006-01-03T17:05:00.000-05:002006-01-03T21:40:43.506-05:00

So, I haven't really bought a lot of anime in 2005, there were other things I needed to spend money on: Tokyo, wedding, supporting an unemployed wife, (love you, honey.;), so my DVD collection has pretty much stagnated. Which I suppose is all right as we're starting to run out of room in our apartment. Anyway, while, I haven't been buying DVDs, I have been renting them. I have accounts with both

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136257548366884692006-01-02T20:45:00.000-05:002006-01-03T15:33:04.860-05:00

I feel absolutely no shame in admitting that I like the Harry Potter books, and even pre-ordered the Half-Blood Prince on Amazon when they made it available. I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore fan, I'm not on any mailing lists, I don't lurk on any forums, I don't write any Hermione/Ginny fanfiction or any fanfiction whatsoever, etc. I just like the books and think they are decently written. Though, I

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20454241.post-1136251664915455062006-01-02T20:26:00.000-05:002006-01-02T20:31:42.196-05:00

I've decided that I needed to start a second blog, a pop culture (but primarily anime) blog, not because of a burning desire to create assloads of screencaps and summarize what I consume and evangelize it, but more as an outlet for my thoughts, observations and rampant speculation that nobody has ever asked me to share. So, yes, welcome to my Echo Chamber, pull up a chair, there are plenty

Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640303223037732121noreply@blogger.com0