April 10, 2013
Random Anime Picture #75: Is It REALLY Random When I Had To Stich The Shot Together?
"Cheesecake: the last refuge of the lazy blogger."
To be fair, I have reason. My ASM is on vacation this week, it's been ridiculously warm in the Duck U Bookstore, I'm old, my heart seems to want to be Gene Krupa when it grows up, one of my friends was forced to use his kidney as a yo-yo, and my boss is showing up tomorrow. There has been no stress whatsoever in my life as of recent. So enjoy the cheesecake, I have a shirt that needs ironing.
To be fair, I have reason. My ASM is on vacation this week, it's been ridiculously warm in the Duck U Bookstore, I'm old, my heart seems to want to be Gene Krupa when it grows up, one of my friends was forced to use his kidney as a yo-yo, and my boss is showing up tomorrow. There has been no stress whatsoever in my life as of recent. So enjoy the cheesecake, I have a shirt that needs ironing.
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April 08, 2013
F1 On NBCSN: China 2013!
Well. It has been a while, hasn't it? I would think that, in this day and age, you could get from Koala Lumper to Shanghai in faster than two weeks and change, but sometimes the fastest seasonal sport on the planet can be awfully slow. Well, that's all behind us now, because we've got a race this weekend! And not just any race, oh no. It's the Grand Prix of China! Let's take a look at the track map:
Yeah, the Tilkenator is at it again. From Turn 1 to Turn 10, there's almost no point in trying to pass anybody, because he made it damn near impossible by throwing turns willy-nilly. This is one of the very few circuits on the calendar where you have to worry about smog. The engines don't run as well in it, there's a metric farkton of dust around the place due to the surrounding factories, and on and on. It's one of the few places where rain probably improves the way the cars behave.
The F1 world has been rather quiet during the past few weeks. Nobody's been crying too loudly about the tires, the Red Bull orders thingy has been swept under the rug, and there's almost been more discussion about the upcoming Grand Prix of Bahrain than about this one. Well, that's fine, too. I'd rather we pay attention to the racing than the politics of the sport, though it does put some extra pressure on the Legendary Announce Team. I have faith in them, I do I do. Here's the schedule:
FRIDAY
1am - 230a : Practice 2 live
SATURDAY
1a - 230a : Quals live
SUNDAY
130a - 430a : 2013 Grand Prix of China live, plus F1 Extra.
Because NBCSN's schedule website is so awful, please take all these times with a grain of salt, and please please please check your local listings.
Now that we've got that out of the way, we've FINALLY gotten a trailer for the upcoming F1 movie "RUSH". Let's take a look, shall we?
Ron Howard, please take all my money. Yes, this is real, and it is spectacular. It's also due September, 2013. Based on the real story of Niki Lauda and James Hunt and the 1976 season.
Yeah, the Tilkenator is at it again. From Turn 1 to Turn 10, there's almost no point in trying to pass anybody, because he made it damn near impossible by throwing turns willy-nilly. This is one of the very few circuits on the calendar where you have to worry about smog. The engines don't run as well in it, there's a metric farkton of dust around the place due to the surrounding factories, and on and on. It's one of the few places where rain probably improves the way the cars behave.
The F1 world has been rather quiet during the past few weeks. Nobody's been crying too loudly about the tires, the Red Bull orders thingy has been swept under the rug, and there's almost been more discussion about the upcoming Grand Prix of Bahrain than about this one. Well, that's fine, too. I'd rather we pay attention to the racing than the politics of the sport, though it does put some extra pressure on the Legendary Announce Team. I have faith in them, I do I do. Here's the schedule:
FRIDAY
1am - 230a : Practice 2 live
SATURDAY
1a - 230a : Quals live
SUNDAY
130a - 430a : 2013 Grand Prix of China live, plus F1 Extra.
Because NBCSN's schedule website is so awful, please take all these times with a grain of salt, and please please please check your local listings.
Now that we've got that out of the way, we've FINALLY gotten a trailer for the upcoming F1 movie "RUSH". Let's take a look, shall we?
Ron Howard, please take all my money. Yes, this is real, and it is spectacular. It's also due September, 2013. Based on the real story of Niki Lauda and James Hunt and the 1976 season.
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April 07, 2013
Vividred Operation Ep11
Hello, greetings, and welcome to this, the writeup for the eleventh episode of Vividred Operation!
I'm Wonderduck, your host and tour guide through this example of the
art of anime. I have a feeling that this will be an important and
exciting adventure in episodic recapping, so please grab a beverage of
your choice, settle into a comfy chair, relax and enjoy, won't you? As
you may remember, in the last episode the antagonist, known to us as Hot Dark Girl Rei, had been caught in
her attempt to super-dooper-power-up an attacking Alone. When she
realized that those opposing her were people she thought were friends,
namely the RHF and the rest of Team Aquos, she kinda went a little
bugnutty. The episode ended with the screen going black and the sound
of a gunshot, leading us to believe that the marines had just shot her
in the head. Quite the conundrum! So where does Episode 11 begin?
From pretty much the same place, except the rest of Team Aquos has joined the party, and they're just as mind-blown as RHF. Hot Dark Captive Girl Rei has it allllllllll worked out: they really were just playing her for a fool. Actually, I'm fairly sure it was the Production Staff doing that, but that's just me.
Anyway, she's bundled onto a waiting tiltrotor and taken away, and while I've been kinda hard on this show in a lot of ways, the one aspect that has rarely disappointed has been the animation quality. Even on this little throwaway shot of the plane taking off and flying away, they made sure to have heat distortion from the engine exhausts. I mean, they're no Production I.G. or anything, but A-1 Pictures has absolutely nothing to be ashamed about with this show.
I mean, other than camera angles that would make pedobear blush. At least we haven't had a "sunrise between the legs" shot in a while. Thankfully.
But then, it wouldn't be Vividred Operation without them, would it? I leave it as a study for the viewer to decide if that's a good thing or not.
more...
From pretty much the same place, except the rest of Team Aquos has joined the party, and they're just as mind-blown as RHF. Hot Dark Captive Girl Rei has it allllllllll worked out: they really were just playing her for a fool. Actually, I'm fairly sure it was the Production Staff doing that, but that's just me.
Anyway, she's bundled onto a waiting tiltrotor and taken away, and while I've been kinda hard on this show in a lot of ways, the one aspect that has rarely disappointed has been the animation quality. Even on this little throwaway shot of the plane taking off and flying away, they made sure to have heat distortion from the engine exhausts. I mean, they're no Production I.G. or anything, but A-1 Pictures has absolutely nothing to be ashamed about with this show.
I mean, other than camera angles that would make pedobear blush. At least we haven't had a "sunrise between the legs" shot in a while. Thankfully.
But then, it wouldn't be Vividred Operation without them, would it? I leave it as a study for the viewer to decide if that's a good thing or not.
more...
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April 06, 2013
Random Anime Picture #74: Pbppbpbbbbbth!
-Photokano, Ep01
Highschool guy is given a camera. Spends the rest of the series taking pictures of cute girls. How can this be anything but great?
Really easily, to be honest. There's the whole "creepy photography club" thing, and the voyeuristic fetish thing that, admittedly, the main character acknowledges and tries to deal with. There's also the "bad writing" and "cardboard characterization" stuff, too. Still, it probably won't be too awful.
I can suffer through it, I suspect.
-Photokano, Ep01
Highschool guy is given a camera. Spends the rest of the series taking pictures of cute girls. How can this be anything but great?
Really easily, to be honest. There's the whole "creepy photography club" thing, and the voyeuristic fetish thing that, admittedly, the main character acknowledges and tries to deal with. There's also the "bad writing" and "cardboard characterization" stuff, too. Still, it probably won't be too awful.
I can suffer through it, I suspect.
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April 05, 2013
When Aircraft Carriers Flew
Over the years, I've written about all sorts of aircraft carriers. Tiny ones, small ones, big ones, bad ones, even aircraft carriers that were submarines. Today, though, I'm going to talk about what might be the strangest of them all: an aircraft carrier that could fly.
The USS Akron (ZRS-4) and her sister ship, the USS Macon (ZRS-5) were two of the largest things ever to fly, and the largest helium-filled airships ever at 785 feet long. Only the Hindenburg was longer, and only by 20 feet. Despite that immense size, they only weighed 110 tons and could make 72kts at maximum speed. Their role with the US Navy was to be that of reconnaissance. With a range of 12000 miles, more or less, crossed with their speed, they could easily scout ahead of the fleet. However, it was recognized that something that size was hardly invisible and made for one juicy target, even if their helium gasbags meant that they wouldn't go foom the way zeppelins did in WWI. Enter the Sparrowhawk.
Both the Akron and Macon could carry up to five F9C Sparrowhawk fighters, though four was the norm. These were carried inside the dirigibles, and were launched and recovered via a "trapeze" unit. Simply put, the hook on the top wing would engage the trapeze, which then hauled the plane up into the hangar. To launch, they were lowered via the trapeze, then the hook would be disengaged. The Sparrowhawk would then fall away, in yet another example of why pilots are insane.
The Sparrowhawks were not carried for local defense, though they could certainly perform in that role. Instead, they were to increase the scouting area of the mothership, and allow the Akron and Macon to stay a safe distance from the targets. On the whole, there's no reason why this wouldn't have worked, and test results were generally favorable. There was no terrible difficulty with the trapeze unit, other than the sheer ridiculousness of the concept.
Unfortunately, neither the Akron or the Macon had long careers in the Navy. Dirigibles are, as you can imagine, inherently somewhat fragile. On April 4th, 1933, a mere two years after her launching, Akron was lost when she flew into a storm front over the Atlantic. 73 of her crew of 76 were lost. Two years later, the Macon was struck by a severe gust of wind that carried away her upper tailfin (weakened by a previous accident and insufficiently repaired). She settled gently into the Pacific Ocean, and 74 of her crew survived.
But for a while, they were flying aircraft carriers.
The USS Akron (ZRS-4) and her sister ship, the USS Macon (ZRS-5) were two of the largest things ever to fly, and the largest helium-filled airships ever at 785 feet long. Only the Hindenburg was longer, and only by 20 feet. Despite that immense size, they only weighed 110 tons and could make 72kts at maximum speed. Their role with the US Navy was to be that of reconnaissance. With a range of 12000 miles, more or less, crossed with their speed, they could easily scout ahead of the fleet. However, it was recognized that something that size was hardly invisible and made for one juicy target, even if their helium gasbags meant that they wouldn't go foom the way zeppelins did in WWI. Enter the Sparrowhawk.
Both the Akron and Macon could carry up to five F9C Sparrowhawk fighters, though four was the norm. These were carried inside the dirigibles, and were launched and recovered via a "trapeze" unit. Simply put, the hook on the top wing would engage the trapeze, which then hauled the plane up into the hangar. To launch, they were lowered via the trapeze, then the hook would be disengaged. The Sparrowhawk would then fall away, in yet another example of why pilots are insane.
The Sparrowhawks were not carried for local defense, though they could certainly perform in that role. Instead, they were to increase the scouting area of the mothership, and allow the Akron and Macon to stay a safe distance from the targets. On the whole, there's no reason why this wouldn't have worked, and test results were generally favorable. There was no terrible difficulty with the trapeze unit, other than the sheer ridiculousness of the concept.
Unfortunately, neither the Akron or the Macon had long careers in the Navy. Dirigibles are, as you can imagine, inherently somewhat fragile. On April 4th, 1933, a mere two years after her launching, Akron was lost when she flew into a storm front over the Atlantic. 73 of her crew of 76 were lost. Two years later, the Macon was struck by a severe gust of wind that carried away her upper tailfin (weakened by a previous accident and insufficiently repaired). She settled gently into the Pacific Ocean, and 74 of her crew survived.
But for a while, they were flying aircraft carriers.
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April 04, 2013
Random Anime Picture #73: Run Away!
-Strike Witches The Movie
When I'm unmotivated, I can always fall back on the last refuge of the lazy blogger: random anime pictures!
-Strike Witches The Movie
When I'm unmotivated, I can always fall back on the last refuge of the lazy blogger: random anime pictures!
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April 03, 2013
Ego Crushing
I'm a blogger. Well, allegedly. By definition, I have to have a fairly substantial ego; I write because I think I have something to say that complete strangers on the internet will find fascinatingly interesting. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll deny the existence of my ego until I'm blue in the face, because that's who I am, but have no fear, it's there, it's real and it's spectacular. Which makes my encounter on Tuesday so disturbing.
You see, I met an honest-to-gawd Hero. I met a man who flew the F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, the U-2, the SR-71, the B-52 and the B-1.
This was a guy who's real life makes that "Most Interesting Man In The World" character look like... well, like a blogger. As I said, I have an ego, and a robust one at that. I consider myself the equal of any man, and better than many. This guy's simple existence made me doubt whether I'm the equal of his damn socks. It's a sobering experience.
So of course, I'm blogging about it. Smell the irony.
You see, I met an honest-to-gawd Hero. I met a man who flew the F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, the U-2, the SR-71, the B-52 and the B-1.
"My other drive is a F-15 Eagle. Top that."
He earned a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, a Distinguished Flying Cross, and two Purple Hearts. He's an author of a book of poetry, poetry that he created as a Prisoner Of War during his six years as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. Poetry that he had to memorize, as he was allowed neither paper nor pencil, and disseminated to his fellow POWs via "tap code." Of course, if he was caught at it, he'd be savagely beaten. He retired a Major General in the US Air Force after a 37 year career. Oh, did I mention that he's a Formula 1 fan, and has raced Formula 5000 and other open-wheel cars? "My other drive is a SR-71 Blackbird. Top that."
And along the way, he picked up the skills of an excellent public speaker, too. Funny, intelligent, clever without being in your face about it, he was one of the most entertaining speakers I've ever heard. The only thing I couldn't figure out is where he kept his wheelbarrow. This was a guy who's real life makes that "Most Interesting Man In The World" character look like... well, like a blogger. As I said, I have an ego, and a robust one at that. I consider myself the equal of any man, and better than many. This guy's simple existence made me doubt whether I'm the equal of his damn socks. It's a sobering experience.
So of course, I'm blogging about it. Smell the irony.
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April 01, 2013
April Fools Zen
The best April Fool's joke is the one that isn't.
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March 31, 2013
Vividred Operation Ep10
Okay, here we go... we've reached double digits on this show. I totally didn't mean for that to rhyme; now I feel like I need to make this intro paragraph into a bad song or something, and I think I'd rather saw my leg off with a rusty nail file than do that. To be blunt, this show doesn't deserve the effort. It's not as bad as some people have made it out to be, but there's no real way to say it's been good. Having said that, it's a lot better fodder for one of these writeups than, say, Girls und Panzer. That was a good, entertaining, well-written series (the OVA I covered notwithstanding), and the recent ending was excellent. I've not seen the ending of Vividred Operation yet... actually, I haven't even seen Ep10 yet... but I can't imagine it's going to be as good as GuP's. What I'm saying is "go watch Girls und Panzer, it's really good." However, I'm not telling you to leave here... we've got to finish this show together. And we will, before the next Formula 1 race on April 14th. On this I swear to all that's... um... swearable. But before we get to Ep11 and Ep12, we need to get through Ep10, and the first step in doing that is this:
I'll admit, there are times that it's easier to do these reviews than others. Hot Dark Wet Girl Rei is in the shower, providing us with a handy recap as to her motivation to destroy the Phlebotinum Engine: in her "parallel world," it went nuts and destroyed everything. The infamous unseen THEY promise to restore it good as new, as long as Hot Dark Moist Girl Rei succeeds in destroying this world's Phlebotinum Engine. Sure. Makes sense to me. Then her parakeet starts screaming like a little girl that had her American Girl doll taken away and in this show, we all know what that means.
Croooow! is being a dick again. It knows that the parakeet freaks out when it's around, so of course it parks its feathered butt right on top of the cage. Oh, and for the record? While Hot Dark Damp Girl Rei stalks over, we hear the parakeet screaming and flapping its wings frantically... but there's no movement inside the cage. Mmmmmm... you can just smell the quality animation! Croooow! notes some... shall we say disobedience? from Hot Dark Drying Girl Rei, and does that trick with the eyes that it does.
Suddenly, there's a glare of light across the camera and Hot Dark Nekkid Girl Rei is on all fours, making the sort of noises you'd associate with a Japanese porn video, and the towel falls off buythedvds. It's good to be the bird... until it goes too far. It threatens to kill Hot Dark Towelless Girl Rei if she doesn't swear obedience to it, and she calls bullhockey.
Sure enough, it's just a servant of THEM and can't kill her. Score one for the Dark Girl. The scene ends with a standoff... Hot Dark Girl Rei explains that she'd use all her remaining arrows on the next Alone if she could be there when it first appears, and Croooow! prevaricates on whether or not it can tell her. Sounds like her plan could work, and work big. She's got this in the bag, yay for her!
Except for that whole "she wins, our world dies" part. That's kind of... a bummer.
more...
I'll admit, there are times that it's easier to do these reviews than others. Hot Dark Wet Girl Rei is in the shower, providing us with a handy recap as to her motivation to destroy the Phlebotinum Engine: in her "parallel world," it went nuts and destroyed everything. The infamous unseen THEY promise to restore it good as new, as long as Hot Dark Moist Girl Rei succeeds in destroying this world's Phlebotinum Engine. Sure. Makes sense to me. Then her parakeet starts screaming like a little girl that had her American Girl doll taken away and in this show, we all know what that means.Croooow! is being a dick again. It knows that the parakeet freaks out when it's around, so of course it parks its feathered butt right on top of the cage. Oh, and for the record? While Hot Dark Damp Girl Rei stalks over, we hear the parakeet screaming and flapping its wings frantically... but there's no movement inside the cage. Mmmmmm... you can just smell the quality animation! Croooow! notes some... shall we say disobedience? from Hot Dark Drying Girl Rei, and does that trick with the eyes that it does.
Suddenly, there's a glare of light across the camera and Hot Dark Nekkid Girl Rei is on all fours, making the sort of noises you'd associate with a Japanese porn video, and the towel falls off buythedvds. It's good to be the bird... until it goes too far. It threatens to kill Hot Dark Towelless Girl Rei if she doesn't swear obedience to it, and she calls bullhockey.
Sure enough, it's just a servant of THEM and can't kill her. Score one for the Dark Girl. The scene ends with a standoff... Hot Dark Girl Rei explains that she'd use all her remaining arrows on the next Alone if she could be there when it first appears, and Croooow! prevaricates on whether or not it can tell her. Sounds like her plan could work, and work big. She's got this in the bag, yay for her!
Except for that whole "she wins, our world dies" part. That's kind of... a bummer.
more...
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March 29, 2013
It's Fantasy Baseball Time Again...
...and as I need to do research for my team, the Generics, all blogging at The Pond is hereby and forthwith suspended until the auction is over.
After this post, that is. Because if I suspended all blogging before this post, I'd already be breaking my suspension, wouldn't I?
The auction is tomorrow morning. It's not like I'm going to be gone for a long time or anything. Probably not as long as some might wish.
After this post, that is. Because if I suspended all blogging before this post, I'd already be breaking my suspension, wouldn't I?
The auction is tomorrow morning. It's not like I'm going to be gone for a long time or anything. Probably not as long as some might wish.
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March 28, 2013
Take A Lap Of Monaco... With Six Strings.
I dunno if it's "real", or if he recorded it ahead of time, but I'll be darned if I care.
I like the bit with the window shades... and note the slight echo on the guitar at that point, too.
It's not content, but hey, it's better than looking at my BP numbers, right?
I like the bit with the window shades... and note the slight echo on the guitar at that point, too.
It's not content, but hey, it's better than looking at my BP numbers, right?
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March 26, 2013
"How I Spent My Tuesday Night," by Wonderduck
Like this:
Around 515pm tonight, I was sitting in my office, counting down a cash register, when my heart skipped a beat. Eh, no biggie, happens every now and again to pretty much everybody. For me, it's gotten relatively routine... my doc told me it wasn't anything to worry about, after all. And then it happened again. Still, no worries... I've had it happen twice like that before. Then it happened yet again. And again. For the next five or ten minutes, my heart was doing this oddball stuff. When it happened twice in a row and I got all sweaty, I knew there was something very not good going on.
As I write this, it's around 1130pm, and I just got back from the Emergency Room. Good news! No heart attack, not even a "silent" one. In fact all my blood test results came back clean... except for one. It seems I'm hypothyroidic, which would account for some things that I was putting down to getting older. I'm not a 25 year old anymore, after all. The thyroid also has a definite tie to heart rhythm.
So tomorrow, I get to call my doctor and make an appointment. But I'm still alive, despite my body's best attempts at making me the opposite. You guys can't get rid of me that easily.
Around 515pm tonight, I was sitting in my office, counting down a cash register, when my heart skipped a beat. Eh, no biggie, happens every now and again to pretty much everybody. For me, it's gotten relatively routine... my doc told me it wasn't anything to worry about, after all. And then it happened again. Still, no worries... I've had it happen twice like that before. Then it happened yet again. And again. For the next five or ten minutes, my heart was doing this oddball stuff. When it happened twice in a row and I got all sweaty, I knew there was something very not good going on.
As I write this, it's around 1130pm, and I just got back from the Emergency Room. Good news! No heart attack, not even a "silent" one. In fact all my blood test results came back clean... except for one. It seems I'm hypothyroidic, which would account for some things that I was putting down to getting older. I'm not a 25 year old anymore, after all. The thyroid also has a definite tie to heart rhythm.
So tomorrow, I get to call my doctor and make an appointment. But I'm still alive, despite my body's best attempts at making me the opposite. You guys can't get rid of me that easily.
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101 is downright calm. (I usually deal with 145+ heartrate while this is occuring.) March 25, 2013
"...and Screw This Whole Area In Particular."
It's hard for a ship to look proud when painted in Measure 32, but somehow the USS Aaron Ward (DM-34, ex DD-773) pulls it off in this picture. Like James Bond, martini shaken not stirred, dressed in a clown costume.
Originally a Sumner-class destroyer, the Ward was taken in hand right after launching and converted to the last of 12 Robert H Smith-class minelayers. All the conversion did was remove the torpedo tubes and add minelaying equipment (which, it might be noted, was never actually used by any of the Smiths in WWII). Otherwise, they were treated as any other destroyer. Joining the fleet at Pearl Harbor on February 2nd, 1945, she received additional training in and around Hawaii before joining TF 52 at Okinawa on March 22nd. She served there for around a month, leaving station occasionally for supplies and such. On April 30th, 1945, she took station at Radar Picket #10 off the coast of Okinawa. She beat off one attacker early in her stay, but bad weather kept Japanese aircraft out of the sky for a few days. That all changed late on the afternoon of May 3th. From roughly 4pm to around 730pm, she was attacked by at least a dozen kamikazes. Of those, she was hit by six.
Gone was the neatly turned-out destroyer-minelayer. Left behind was a legend.
27 of her crew were killed in the attacks, but the ship was saved. Arriving in New York under her own power in August of 1945, she was judged not worth repairing. She was decommissioned in September of that same year, and scrapped in 1946.
It's hard for a ship to look proud when painted in Measure 32, but somehow the USS Aaron Ward (DM-34, ex DD-773) pulls it off in this picture. Like James Bond, martini shaken not stirred, dressed in a clown costume.
Originally a Sumner-class destroyer, the Ward was taken in hand right after launching and converted to the last of 12 Robert H Smith-class minelayers. All the conversion did was remove the torpedo tubes and add minelaying equipment (which, it might be noted, was never actually used by any of the Smiths in WWII). Otherwise, they were treated as any other destroyer. Joining the fleet at Pearl Harbor on February 2nd, 1945, she received additional training in and around Hawaii before joining TF 52 at Okinawa on March 22nd. She served there for around a month, leaving station occasionally for supplies and such. On April 30th, 1945, she took station at Radar Picket #10 off the coast of Okinawa. She beat off one attacker early in her stay, but bad weather kept Japanese aircraft out of the sky for a few days. That all changed late on the afternoon of May 3th. From roughly 4pm to around 730pm, she was attacked by at least a dozen kamikazes. Of those, she was hit by six.
Gone was the neatly turned-out destroyer-minelayer. Left behind was a legend.
27 of her crew were killed in the attacks, but the ship was saved. Arriving in New York under her own power in August of 1945, she was judged not worth repairing. She was decommissioned in September of that same year, and scrapped in 1946.
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March 24, 2013
F1 Update!: 2013 Grand Prix of Malaysia
Well, that was different. Going into the 2013 Grand Prix of Malayasia, all the talk was about tires and rain. The race was supposed to be run in the middle of a deluge, and both Red Bull and Mercedes had come out publicly and called for Pirelli to return to last year's tires. Heck, Red Bull even flat-out claimed that these tires were designed the way they were to specifically not work well with their car. Coming out of the 2013 Grand Prix of Malaysia, all the talk was about something entirely different. This is YOUR F1Update! for today's race!
*THE RACE: Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. The best equipment, the best technology, the best drivers, the best mechanics, the best strategists, you name it, F1 is where it's at. But every now and again, the best will sometime pee their abilities right down the leg of their firesuits... a driver turns left instead of right, a team sets themselves on fire (metaphorically, it is hoped), that sort of thing. Rarely, however, it appears that everybody involved with the sport goes completely bugnutty at the same time. That's what we got today at Sepang. The weather didn't help any; as the cars made their way to the grid, rain was falling fairly heavily at some places on the circuit. Five or six cars wound up going off on the recon lap, though none of them suffered more than a broken nose. The race began with everybody on the Intermediate tires, and right away someone suffered a bit more than a broken nose.
HWMNBN's Ferrari bumped into the back of Seb Vettel's Red Bull in the first turn complex, deranging his front wing drastically. However, he didn't appear to suffer any in performance, being able to keep the rest of the field (including Mark Webber, who had a great start) behind him. Still, from the sparks flying from the dragging wing, it was pretty clear that he had to pit at the end of Lap 1. According to the Legendary Announce Team's on-site reporter, Ferrari's mechanics were in the pit lane, new nose at the ready, as he came running down the long back straight... and drove right past pit-in. The team later said that they told him to stay out, hoping to get one more lap done before they changed the Spaniard onto slicks. We here at F1U! think that HWMNBN made the call on his own, and the team is covering for him. Whichever it was, it was a stupid mistake, one that every announcer on the planet was decrying the second he went past pit-in. Just a few seconds later, they were proven correct.
HWMNBN's wing came off, slid right under the "tea-tray" and popped his front tires off the ground right when he should have been braking for Turn 1. Once the tires ended up back on the tarmac, it was too late and he just skidded straight on into the kittylitter. Beached, he was out of the race on Lap 2. But that was merely the first of a parade of unforced errors committed by these, the best teams in motorsport.
*PITS. STAHP!!! STAAAAAHP!!!: All the first round of pitstops needed to make everything perfect was circus calliope music and mechanics coming out in clown shoes. It all began with Shiv Hamilton, current driver for Mercedes, trying to stop at his old team McLaren's pitbox.
Then Jules Vergne, leaving his box, ran into Charles ToothPic, coming in for his first stop. During the next round of stops, around Lap 22, Force India brought Adrian Sutil in for a stop, and spent what seemed to be an hour trying to get tires off the car. It may have been a design flaw, but the team wound up retiring (pardon the pun) both Sutil and di Resta for safety reasons.
*THEN IT GOT UGLY: On Lap 28, Seb Vettel was on the hard tires, and behind his teammate Mark Webber, on the mediums. Vettel began to bitch over the radio that Webber was too slow and the team tell the Aussie to let him past. As he was saying this, Webber was in the process of turning the fast lap of the race up to that point. By Lap 40, the race had settled down: Webber led Vettel, then there was a decent gap back to Shiv Hamilton, who led his teammate Nico Rosberg. Thanks to some blisteringly fast pit-in laps, Vettel managed to finish his final pitstop and come out right on Webber's tail. The two began to duel for the lead while Team Principle Christian Horner began to chastise Vettel: "Come on, Seb, this is silly." Red Bull has standing orders: after the final pit-stop, their positions are locked: the driver behind at the last stop must stay behind the leader. Both drivers had been given orders to turn down their engine power as well, better to preserve them for later races. Except Vettel decided to ignore both instructions. Meanwhile, down at Mercedes, Rosberg had been talking to his pit lane, pleading that he could pass Shiv Hamilton. THEIR Team Principle, Ross Brawn, had to get involved and explain that Hamilton had been instructed to drive to a time, protecting tires. The difference is, Rosberg and Hamilton obeyed their boss. Vettel, knowing that his teammate had turned his engine power down, decided to blow off team orders. He passed Mark Webber, though not without some effort, and rocketed away into the distance. Webber's firmly extended middle digit let us know his opinion.
*THEN IT GOT UGLIER: The race ended with Vettel leading Webber, then Hamilton ahead of Rosberg. There was much symbolism involved in the way the Red Bull drivers crossed the finish line: Vettel swerved close to the inside wall, where the mechanics were gathered. Webber, on the other hand, took the checkered flag as far on the other side of the track as it was possible to go, clearly signifying his distaste of the goings-on. Hamilton and Rosberg crossed nose-to-tail, both close to the wall. Then, in Parc Ferme, Webber parked his car first and was nowhere to be seen when Vettel finally pulled in; instead of waiting for his teammate, he just went into the "green room." By contrast, Shiv Hamilton waited to speak to Rosberg before going up to the podium. In the green room, the tension between the Red Bull teammates was obvious, and it got worse during the podium celebration and post-race interview. When it came time to spray the champagne, Webber immediately moved very far away from Vettel, who went in the other direction, with Hamilton. Neither congratulated the other, neither even looked at each other. Then, during the interviews, the less than pleased Webber ended his statement with "...and in the end, Seb made his own decisions today, and will have protection as usual, and that's the way it goes." Meanwhile, Hamilton said in his interview segment that "to be truthful, Nico (Rosberg) should probably be up here instead of me." There's clearly going to be some rather heated discussions in a couple of teams between now and the next race in China.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: Felipe Massa. He finished fifth, kept his car clean, and showed what he can do when his teammate isn't in his way. A solid performance for a driver resurrecting his career.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: Lotus. The first team to get both cars across the line without their drivers wanting to kill each other.
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Vettel's pass on Webber towards the end of the race was pretty nice. Other than being done against team orders, against a teammate with a purposely-slowed engine, that is.
*MOOOOOO-OOOOVE OF THE RACE: HWMNBN's decision to blow off the team and keep going on a broken front wing on Lap 1. OR Ferrari's decision to keep HWMNBN out with a broken front wing, whichever way you think it went. Just dumb.
*SELECTED DRIVER QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
*THE RACE: Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. The best equipment, the best technology, the best drivers, the best mechanics, the best strategists, you name it, F1 is where it's at. But every now and again, the best will sometime pee their abilities right down the leg of their firesuits... a driver turns left instead of right, a team sets themselves on fire (metaphorically, it is hoped), that sort of thing. Rarely, however, it appears that everybody involved with the sport goes completely bugnutty at the same time. That's what we got today at Sepang. The weather didn't help any; as the cars made their way to the grid, rain was falling fairly heavily at some places on the circuit. Five or six cars wound up going off on the recon lap, though none of them suffered more than a broken nose. The race began with everybody on the Intermediate tires, and right away someone suffered a bit more than a broken nose.
HWMNBN's Ferrari bumped into the back of Seb Vettel's Red Bull in the first turn complex, deranging his front wing drastically. However, he didn't appear to suffer any in performance, being able to keep the rest of the field (including Mark Webber, who had a great start) behind him. Still, from the sparks flying from the dragging wing, it was pretty clear that he had to pit at the end of Lap 1. According to the Legendary Announce Team's on-site reporter, Ferrari's mechanics were in the pit lane, new nose at the ready, as he came running down the long back straight... and drove right past pit-in. The team later said that they told him to stay out, hoping to get one more lap done before they changed the Spaniard onto slicks. We here at F1U! think that HWMNBN made the call on his own, and the team is covering for him. Whichever it was, it was a stupid mistake, one that every announcer on the planet was decrying the second he went past pit-in. Just a few seconds later, they were proven correct.
HWMNBN's wing came off, slid right under the "tea-tray" and popped his front tires off the ground right when he should have been braking for Turn 1. Once the tires ended up back on the tarmac, it was too late and he just skidded straight on into the kittylitter. Beached, he was out of the race on Lap 2. But that was merely the first of a parade of unforced errors committed by these, the best teams in motorsport.
*PITS. STAHP!!! STAAAAAHP!!!: All the first round of pitstops needed to make everything perfect was circus calliope music and mechanics coming out in clown shoes. It all began with Shiv Hamilton, current driver for Mercedes, trying to stop at his old team McLaren's pitbox.
Then Jules Vergne, leaving his box, ran into Charles ToothPic, coming in for his first stop. During the next round of stops, around Lap 22, Force India brought Adrian Sutil in for a stop, and spent what seemed to be an hour trying to get tires off the car. It may have been a design flaw, but the team wound up retiring (pardon the pun) both Sutil and di Resta for safety reasons.
*THEN IT GOT UGLY: On Lap 28, Seb Vettel was on the hard tires, and behind his teammate Mark Webber, on the mediums. Vettel began to bitch over the radio that Webber was too slow and the team tell the Aussie to let him past. As he was saying this, Webber was in the process of turning the fast lap of the race up to that point. By Lap 40, the race had settled down: Webber led Vettel, then there was a decent gap back to Shiv Hamilton, who led his teammate Nico Rosberg. Thanks to some blisteringly fast pit-in laps, Vettel managed to finish his final pitstop and come out right on Webber's tail. The two began to duel for the lead while Team Principle Christian Horner began to chastise Vettel: "Come on, Seb, this is silly." Red Bull has standing orders: after the final pit-stop, their positions are locked: the driver behind at the last stop must stay behind the leader. Both drivers had been given orders to turn down their engine power as well, better to preserve them for later races. Except Vettel decided to ignore both instructions. Meanwhile, down at Mercedes, Rosberg had been talking to his pit lane, pleading that he could pass Shiv Hamilton. THEIR Team Principle, Ross Brawn, had to get involved and explain that Hamilton had been instructed to drive to a time, protecting tires. The difference is, Rosberg and Hamilton obeyed their boss. Vettel, knowing that his teammate had turned his engine power down, decided to blow off team orders. He passed Mark Webber, though not without some effort, and rocketed away into the distance. Webber's firmly extended middle digit let us know his opinion.
*THEN IT GOT UGLIER: The race ended with Vettel leading Webber, then Hamilton ahead of Rosberg. There was much symbolism involved in the way the Red Bull drivers crossed the finish line: Vettel swerved close to the inside wall, where the mechanics were gathered. Webber, on the other hand, took the checkered flag as far on the other side of the track as it was possible to go, clearly signifying his distaste of the goings-on. Hamilton and Rosberg crossed nose-to-tail, both close to the wall. Then, in Parc Ferme, Webber parked his car first and was nowhere to be seen when Vettel finally pulled in; instead of waiting for his teammate, he just went into the "green room." By contrast, Shiv Hamilton waited to speak to Rosberg before going up to the podium. In the green room, the tension between the Red Bull teammates was obvious, and it got worse during the podium celebration and post-race interview. When it came time to spray the champagne, Webber immediately moved very far away from Vettel, who went in the other direction, with Hamilton. Neither congratulated the other, neither even looked at each other. Then, during the interviews, the less than pleased Webber ended his statement with "...and in the end, Seb made his own decisions today, and will have protection as usual, and that's the way it goes." Meanwhile, Hamilton said in his interview segment that "to be truthful, Nico (Rosberg) should probably be up here instead of me." There's clearly going to be some rather heated discussions in a couple of teams between now and the next race in China.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: Felipe Massa. He finished fifth, kept his car clean, and showed what he can do when his teammate isn't in his way. A solid performance for a driver resurrecting his career.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: Lotus. The first team to get both cars across the line without their drivers wanting to kill each other.
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Vettel's pass on Webber towards the end of the race was pretty nice. Other than being done against team orders, against a teammate with a purposely-slowed engine, that is.
*MOOOOOO-OOOOVE OF THE RACE: HWMNBN's decision to blow off the team and keep going on a broken front wing on Lap 1. OR Ferrari's decision to keep HWMNBN out with a broken front wing, whichever way you think it went. Just dumb.
*SELECTED DRIVER QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
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March 23, 2013
The Ugliest Warship In Any Fleet
You may remember a few months ago, I wrote about a pair of ships named the HMS General Wolfe and the HMS Lord Clive, a pair of Royal Navy monitors that shipped 18" guns. That little post sent me on a quiet search for more monitors, coastal defense ships, that sort of thing. And oh, but did I find some fun ones! For example, which would you rather have, a 7000ton ship with 11" guns or a 4000ton ship with 10" guns? Just wonderfully mind-altering designs flowed to me.
And then I stopped. I stopped because I encountered a ship that was far and away the ugliest thing I've ever seen afloat... and that includes bifurcated ships and French aircraft carriers. Ladies and gentlemen, I found a 3000ton ship carrying 15" rifles. Ladies and gentlemen, I found the Italian Faa di Bruno.
Technically a monitor, in truthfully this tremendously ugly thing was a barge with a bow tacked on. Her hull, not seen here because it had about two inches of freeboard, had a concrete cofferdam ten feet thick. It had a top speed of 3kts if the tide was behind it, driven by a 450hp engine. And it is hideous.
If you know of any ship uglier, leave it in the comments. Then gouge out your eyeballs.
And then I stopped. I stopped because I encountered a ship that was far and away the ugliest thing I've ever seen afloat... and that includes bifurcated ships and French aircraft carriers. Ladies and gentlemen, I found a 3000ton ship carrying 15" rifles. Ladies and gentlemen, I found the Italian Faa di Bruno.
Technically a monitor, in truthfully this tremendously ugly thing was a barge with a bow tacked on. Her hull, not seen here because it had about two inches of freeboard, had a concrete cofferdam ten feet thick. It had a top speed of 3kts if the tide was behind it, driven by a 450hp engine. And it is hideous.
If you know of any ship uglier, leave it in the comments. Then gouge out your eyeballs.
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F1 Quals: Malaysia 2013
They say that there are two things that are inevitable in life: death and taxes. I'd like to add a third entry: it rains in Malaysia during F1 time. Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2013 Grand Prix of Malaysia:
Q1 was dry, and it became apparent that the big teams were protecting their hard tires for the race. This trick very nearly backfired for Seb Vettel, who was 15th at the end of the session, a mere quarter-second away from being knocked out. This being F1, however, you can pretty much expect that Red Bull planned it that way all along. Right.
Q2, on the other hand, saw everybody lined up in the pit lane, waiting for the track to go green. Rain was coming, and lots of it... 35 miles away, the Malaysian Open golf tournament had just been called for the day by torrential rains, and the clouds rapidly heading towards the race course promised a similar fate for the guys in the fast cars. Thus, the plan was to get on track, put in a banker lap, then hope to get something faster in before the rains come. This was duly accomplished by everybody... except for Paul di Resta, who never completed his first hot lap. Instead, he drove back to the pits and the Force India mechanics started to do the usual maintenance... wipe down the car, clean the radiators, check telemetry, that sort of thing. It was seemingly only as the rain began to fall that people realized "hey, he doesn't have a time yet." Too late: he was five seconds off the pace of the next slowest car.
On the gripping hand, Q3 started off wet, but with little rain falling. Intermediate tires were the way to go, and a dry line quickly began to form. As the final session went on, one began to wonder if anybody would risk putting on a set of slick tires... it was that close to the cut-off time where the dries were as good or better. If the session was 15 minutes long, someone surely would have tried it. Alas, Q3 is only 10 minutes in length. Remarkably, Seb Vettel took pole by nearly a second over Felipe Massa, despite running less rear wing than anybody in the field. I'm not sure what that means for the race... nothing good, I expect. It's supposed to be plagued by heavy rains... if it turns out to be dry, Vettel will run away with this. If it does rain... well, I truly don't know.
Fortunately, we'll find out Sunday morning! See ya there for F1Update!
Q1 was dry, and it became apparent that the big teams were protecting their hard tires for the race. This trick very nearly backfired for Seb Vettel, who was 15th at the end of the session, a mere quarter-second away from being knocked out. This being F1, however, you can pretty much expect that Red Bull planned it that way all along. Right.
Q2, on the other hand, saw everybody lined up in the pit lane, waiting for the track to go green. Rain was coming, and lots of it... 35 miles away, the Malaysian Open golf tournament had just been called for the day by torrential rains, and the clouds rapidly heading towards the race course promised a similar fate for the guys in the fast cars. Thus, the plan was to get on track, put in a banker lap, then hope to get something faster in before the rains come. This was duly accomplished by everybody... except for Paul di Resta, who never completed his first hot lap. Instead, he drove back to the pits and the Force India mechanics started to do the usual maintenance... wipe down the car, clean the radiators, check telemetry, that sort of thing. It was seemingly only as the rain began to fall that people realized "hey, he doesn't have a time yet." Too late: he was five seconds off the pace of the next slowest car.
On the gripping hand, Q3 started off wet, but with little rain falling. Intermediate tires were the way to go, and a dry line quickly began to form. As the final session went on, one began to wonder if anybody would risk putting on a set of slick tires... it was that close to the cut-off time where the dries were as good or better. If the session was 15 minutes long, someone surely would have tried it. Alas, Q3 is only 10 minutes in length. Remarkably, Seb Vettel took pole by nearly a second over Felipe Massa, despite running less rear wing than anybody in the field. I'm not sure what that means for the race... nothing good, I expect. It's supposed to be plagued by heavy rains... if it turns out to be dry, Vettel will run away with this. If it does rain... well, I truly don't know.
Fortunately, we'll find out Sunday morning! See ya there for F1Update!
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March 22, 2013
F1 Practice: Malaysia 2013
Hello, howdy and welcome to Malaysia's Sepang International Race Circuit, where it is currently hot, humid, about to rain, and...
OMGWTFBBQ!!! IT'S THE VARSHA!!! HE'S BACK!!!!1!11!!! Okay, he's filling in for Leigh Diffey, who's calling the IndyCar season opener this weekend, but THE VARSHA IS BACK! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! We've got the entire Legendary Announce Team together again for the first time!
Everybody's terribly concerned about the tire situation for the race. Pirelli has brought the hard and medium compounds to the track, and from all reports the hards aren't lasting more than a handful of laps on the hot, hot asphalt. They rubber is just blistering and boiling off. One would assume that means the mediums will explode into flame the moment they hit the first turn, but as it turns out, they didn't wear quite as badly as the hards. No, I can't explain it either.
Esteban Gutierrez had a little problem with his Sauber: the fire extinguisher built into the car went off. While he was driving it.
I can imagine this would be... disconcerting. And, considering that the temperature and humidity were both in the 90s, perhaps refreshing as well.
And then it rained, and everybody stopped driving. Mark Webber actually said that the slicks worked better on the wet track than they did in the dry. That's Australian humor, I suppose.
I've half-arsed this post. Sorry about that. Quals in the morning.
OMGWTFBBQ!!! IT'S THE VARSHA!!! HE'S BACK!!!!1!11!!! Okay, he's filling in for Leigh Diffey, who's calling the IndyCar season opener this weekend, but THE VARSHA IS BACK! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! We've got the entire Legendary Announce Team together again for the first time!
Everybody's terribly concerned about the tire situation for the race. Pirelli has brought the hard and medium compounds to the track, and from all reports the hards aren't lasting more than a handful of laps on the hot, hot asphalt. They rubber is just blistering and boiling off. One would assume that means the mediums will explode into flame the moment they hit the first turn, but as it turns out, they didn't wear quite as badly as the hards. No, I can't explain it either.
Esteban Gutierrez had a little problem with his Sauber: the fire extinguisher built into the car went off. While he was driving it.
I can imagine this would be... disconcerting. And, considering that the temperature and humidity were both in the 90s, perhaps refreshing as well.
And then it rained, and everybody stopped driving. Mark Webber actually said that the slicks worked better on the wet track than they did in the dry. That's Australian humor, I suppose.
I've half-arsed this post. Sorry about that. Quals in the morning.
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March 20, 2013
Vividred Operation Ep09 Nutshelled
To be blunt, however, the title of this should be "Ep09 NutSHOTted." Because, oh my god, that's the least of what the Production Staff deserves. Episode 08 was, in my opinion, the best of the series so far, full of drama and character development. I really enjoyed watching it, mostly because it required that Team Aquos to succeed without the RHF, who is really the Kryptonian in the woodpile. Everything has to run through her, because only with her can they reach the ultimate potential of the Vivid System amd become completely unstoppable. Just like Superman. And it becomes boring, just like Superman. So seeing "The Jordanaires" succeed without her was quite nice. Now, it's common for there to be a dropoff after such a tour de force, I understand that. I do, and was actually expecting it. I mean, let's face it, this is Vividred Operation we're talking about here, not ARIA or some excellent show like that.
What I didn't expect was what we got. What we got was an episode that honestly made me angry with the pointlessness of it all. I wanted to inflict deep hurting on the Production Staff. And they would have deserved it, all of it and more.
more...
What I didn't expect was what we got. What we got was an episode that honestly made me angry with the pointlessness of it all. I wanted to inflict deep hurting on the Production Staff. And they would have deserved it, all of it and more.
more...
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March 18, 2013
F1 on NBCSN!: Malaysia 2013
After a rousingly entertaining Grand Prix of Australia, the traveling band of oddballs known as Formula 1 makes its way to Koala Lumper for the 2013 Grand Prix of Malaysia... and a more different circuit you could not find. Let's take a look at the track map:
The Sepang International Circuit has the honor of being our first Hermann Tilke design of the year, and oh boy aren't we the richer for it? Well, the two long straightaways broken up by the hairpin is nice, but the rest of it? If there was to be an international symbol for "meh", it would be the trackmap for Sepang. Or the logo for Windows Vista. One of the two.
Combine the uninspired layout with stupidly high humidity and temperatures, and you've got a race that's brutally difficult for the drivers. However, that's all tempered by the fact that it supposedly always rains right at race-time. Since the switch to the 5pm local start time in 2009, we've had wet races twice: last year and in the inaugural race. The forecast for this weekend is cloudy for Practice and Quals, and Biblical Apocalypse for the race. If that occurs, then the Pirelli tire choice of Hards/Softs won't come into play. As is, the tire manufacturer expects three stops if it doesn't rain... which means the teams'll do two.
Here's the NBCSN broadcast schedule for the race weekend:
FRIDAY:
1a - 230a Practice 2 Live
SATURDAY:
3a - 430a Quals Live
SUNDAY:
230a - 5a Grand Prix of Malaysia
5a - 530a F1 Extra
Looks like first practice was only being shown for Australia, which makes sense... first race of the year, first F1 broadcast ever for the channel, it gave 'em a chance to work out the kinks and so forth. As it was, I thought NBCSN did a perfectly acceptable job. They'll get their second chance this weekend, and F1Update! will be... um... paying attention. We'll see you then!
The Sepang International Circuit has the honor of being our first Hermann Tilke design of the year, and oh boy aren't we the richer for it? Well, the two long straightaways broken up by the hairpin is nice, but the rest of it? If there was to be an international symbol for "meh", it would be the trackmap for Sepang. Or the logo for Windows Vista. One of the two.
Combine the uninspired layout with stupidly high humidity and temperatures, and you've got a race that's brutally difficult for the drivers. However, that's all tempered by the fact that it supposedly always rains right at race-time. Since the switch to the 5pm local start time in 2009, we've had wet races twice: last year and in the inaugural race. The forecast for this weekend is cloudy for Practice and Quals, and Biblical Apocalypse for the race. If that occurs, then the Pirelli tire choice of Hards/Softs won't come into play. As is, the tire manufacturer expects three stops if it doesn't rain... which means the teams'll do two.
Here's the NBCSN broadcast schedule for the race weekend:
FRIDAY:
1a - 230a Practice 2 Live
SATURDAY:
3a - 430a Quals Live
SUNDAY:
230a - 5a Grand Prix of Malaysia
5a - 530a F1 Extra
Looks like first practice was only being shown for Australia, which makes sense... first race of the year, first F1 broadcast ever for the channel, it gave 'em a chance to work out the kinks and so forth. As it was, I thought NBCSN did a perfectly acceptable job. They'll get their second chance this weekend, and F1Update! will be... um... paying attention. We'll see you then!
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Vividred Operation Ep08
After looking back at it, I realized that I've been dealing with this
bronchitis thing for three darn weeks. No wonder I'm so bloody tired!
At least the antibiotic has been working its magic upon me for these
past seven days... I feel a lot better. Now, I'm sure y'all are reading
this and saying something to the effect of "well, that's nice,
Wonderduck, but what, exactly, does this have to do with Vividred Operation?"
A fine question, and I'm proud of you for calling me on it. Keep the
duck honest, I always say. Well, since I feel better, I'm much more
likely to do a good job with this writeup! I mean, the last two have
been done while I've felt miserable, so this one oughta be fantasmic!
Or something like that. I dunno. We'll find out. As you may remember,
at the end of last week's episode the RHF had been zorched by a seemingly-defeated Alone and was
plummeting from the sky while the rest of Team Aquos watched helplessly
and Hot Dark Girl Rei chuckled darkly to herself. So where do we start this episode?
Ladies and gentlemen, the Production Staff went somewhere that even I didn't go, and it's AWESOME. I saw this scene, of medical staff rolling RHF down a hall while Team Aquos crowded around her broken body and immediately knew I'd seen it somewhere before... I just couldn't figure out where.
It did eventually come to me, and it may be telling that I was under the influence of a cough medicine that contains a decent amount of codeine when it finally clicked. We're in Ep09 of Ga-Rei Zero! The more I think about it, the better VividGaRei OperationZero sounds to me.
Is that what Hot Dark Girl Rei is shooting at the Alones? Fragments of the Death Stone? Is RHF going to turn into The Schoolgirl In Black? When's the pocky eating scene between Rei and Himawari? Did I really just say that out loud?
more...
Ladies and gentlemen, the Production Staff went somewhere that even I didn't go, and it's AWESOME. I saw this scene, of medical staff rolling RHF down a hall while Team Aquos crowded around her broken body and immediately knew I'd seen it somewhere before... I just couldn't figure out where.
It did eventually come to me, and it may be telling that I was under the influence of a cough medicine that contains a decent amount of codeine when it finally clicked. We're in Ep09 of Ga-Rei Zero! The more I think about it, the better VividGaRei OperationZero sounds to me.
Is that what Hot Dark Girl Rei is shooting at the Alones? Fragments of the Death Stone? Is RHF going to turn into The Schoolgirl In Black? When's the pocky eating scene between Rei and Himawari? Did I really just say that out loud?
more...
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