In every anime season, there's always some keepers and some shows that are quite honestly nothing more than crap on a stick.  In this edition of the semi-regular series, "What's Wonderduck Watching?", I'll be pointing you towards a few shows that I think are keepers... and a couple that are crap on a stick.

As always, this post isn't meant to be a comprehensive review of every series out there, nor is it unbiased or even-handed.  It's a look at the shows I'm going to be following this season because I think they're good, and a warning to stay away from a couple of others because I think they're awful.

That being said, let's get on with the program!



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It's Alumni Weekend at Duck U., with the attendant football game.  This, though, was a special Alumni Weekend for me, because it's for classes ending in "0"... 2000, 1990, 1980, etc etc etc.  If it wasn't for me being overly efficient at the juco I attended before I transferred to Duck U, I would have graduated in 1990.  Instead, there weren't enough theatre credits available for me to take in four semesters, so I had to stretch it out to five.  Oh well.

But, for the first time in the nearly seven years I've worked Alumni Weekend at the Duck U Bookstore, someone I knew from the Theatre Department back then came in!  At this moment, I'd like to give a big duck welcome to Merek, whom I hadn't seen in 20 years... I've missed ya, lass, and you'd best shoot me an e-mail!

Oh, and even though they had the assistance of the Football Duckie, the good guys lost 44-0.  Yeesh.

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-Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, ep02

First there was Uiharu's desktop app thingy, now there's an e-mail program.  It's only a matter of time until we get DuckOS...

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A new entry into the semi-occasional feature "What's Wonderduck Watching?" will be coming along in the next day or so... except I'm still trying to figure out what'll end up as keepers.  And I need a nap.  So, in lieu of anything involving things like 'content' or 'anything worthwhile,' here's a funny picture.

Oh, and no, Siergen, I haven't forgotten, I'm still researching.  There does appear to be a one-word answer, however: fear.

UPDATE:

...and you thought I was kidding, Gerberette?  Pshaw!

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After two days of inspections, Charlie Whiting, the FIA's Head Of All Things Technical, has given the Korean International Circuit a "satisfactory" grade in his report to the powers that be.  He walked the entire track, checking such things as curbing, asphalt smoothness, safety and runoff areas, facilities and the like, and proclaimed it suitable to be raced upon.

And he's probably right.  It just looks like a construction area.  All we really care about is the track itself, the rest of it is just for show... like Monaco.

It's amazing what ISN'T there, however.  For their track simulation, the creators of the new F1 2010 video game had access to the same CAD blueprints that the builders used.  Here's the result:

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Sunny skies on Sunday replaced the torrential rain from Saturday, but on whom would the sun shine the brightest?  THIS is your F1 Update! for the Grand Prix of Japan!

*RUMBLINGS:  The first indication that the hijinks of the Great Suzuka Pit Lane Boat Races had infected Sunday came as the cars were coming to the grid for the first time when from out of nowhere we saw a car spearing into the outside barrier at 130R.

Virgin Racing's Lucas di Grassi said he "felt something break" in the rear of the car just before it went spinning off into the wall.  It isn't exactly common to have a car crash on the recon lap, but it isn't unheard of either.  Everybody took a deep breath, muttered "rookies" to themselves, and carried on.  Until the lights went out.

*TOTAL CHAOS: Everything up front was about as we've come to expect.  Seb Vettel led the thundering horde into Turn 1, but Mark Webber had another patented Red Bull Lousy Startâ„¢, letting Renault's Robert Kubica slip by into second.  But farther back in the pack everything was going straight to hell.  Nico Hulkenberg's Williams had a slow-ish start, sending cars on the left side of the grid behind him scrambling to avoid him.  Vitaly Petrov, charging hard from his grid slot, tried to thread the needle between Hulkenberg's car and someone else... and failed.  The results weren't pretty.

The Renault clipped the rear corner of Hulkenberg, then pirouetted across the Williams' nose on it's way into the Armco barrier.  Petrov was unhurt, but both cars were dead on the spot.  Meanwhile, Felipe Massa's Ferrari was in a jam... literally.  He was squeezed over onto the grass as he approached Turn 1.  The loss of traction sent him sprawling across the track, collecting the Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi in the process.

Five cars out of the race before the first turn was completed?  That's impressive, even for the naked confusion of a F1 start.  The Safety Car was called out and everybody took a deep breath.  "Well, that's over with, let's get on with it."  Except they were wrong.  While stacked behind the Safety Car on Lap 2, Robert Kubica suddenly pulled offtrack and came to a stop.  A look at the Renault mechanics showed nothing but confusion on their faces, but the Pole's body language simply radiated aggravation.

And for good reason.  His right-rear wheel had worked itself free from the axle and gone off into the Japanese countryside, ending his day and making everybody else wonder "what's coming next?"

*NOTHING AMAZING:  From there on out, the rest of the race was rather pedestrian.  McLaren's Jenson Button was running a strategy race rather than raw pace.  The only of the top 10 cars to have qualified on the hard tires, he needed to stay close to his teammate Lewis Hamilton, the two Red Bulls, and the Ferrari of HWMNBN.  When they pitted, he'd still have halfway decent tires to try and open a lead, then capitalize when he changed to the soft tires.  While he stayed close, he couldn't really stretch his lead enough to make a difference.  After he pitted, he rejoined in 5th, later taking passing his teammate for 4th when Hamilton's new gearbox lost third gear.  Up front, Vettel led Mark Webber across the line for the win, HWMNBN closing in fast for third. 

*DRAMA:  Behind those first five though, there was enough excitement for any two races.  Gandalf Kobayashi started 14th and progressed through the field to end up 7th, making four or five passes in the Hairpin along the way.  The two Mercedes drivers, Nico Rosberg and Slappy Schumacher, raced each other hard for most of the second half of the contest making everybody wonder if there was going to be a pile of pewter-colored carbon fiber in our future.  Adrian Sutil blew one side of his engine going into 130R late in the race, put down a smoke-screen, spinning when oil from his car got onto his rear tires, recovered, blew the other side of his engine, put down another smoke-screen that any WWII-era destroyer would have been proud of, then coasted into the pitlane.

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The skies above Suzuka are reported to be sunny and clear, and the Quals for the 2010 Grand Prix of Japan went off without a hitch!  Here's the provisional grid:

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While we're waiting for Quals to run, here's this:

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Best looking of the entries for the Great Suzuka Pit Lane Boat Race.  Also the slowest, which isn't all that surprising considering Switzerland's naval status (the America's Cup not withstanding). 

News from Suzuka is good.  Looks like there's only light rain in the area, though with four or five hours to go, that can change.  Right now however, there's no doubt that Lewis Hamilton is seriously thinking about drowning himself.  He'll be taking a five-spot grid penalty for a gearbox change.  Seems there was a little bit more damage than the team thought after his little encounter with the wall.  It's amazing how fast one's view of a driver's chances can change... right now, Hamilton is pretty much being given up for dead by everybody, yet he's still in third place in the Driver's Championship.  Wacky.

In one other bit of news, they've finally laid asphalt at the Korea International Circuit, host of the first Grand Prix of Korea in two weeks.  Unfortunately, it was laid down on Friday, and it takes time for asphalt to cure.  For everyday use by streetcars, bus traffic and trucks, it's only a short time.  For the stresses a F1 car will put on the asphalt, however, it's substantially longer... longer than they've got.  A couple-three years ago, the surface at Montreal was literally being ripped up by the high-downforce cars in the curves.  They patched the track in time for the race, but then the patches tore up.  Fortunately, no cars were damaged by the chunking, but it could have been a disaster if someone had driven into one of the... call them 'potholes'... at speed.  F1 Tech Honcho Charlie Whiting is scheduled to inspect the track on Monday, after which a decision on the race will be made.

You realize that, in theory, we might go six weeks between F1 races?  If they cancel Korea, and Japan is washed out, that's exactly what'll be happening... unless they reschedule Suzuka and move Korea to, say, the Mt Fuji circuit.  Bring back the Pacific GP!

Back after qual results are up!

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According to the Legendary Announce Team, the rains came a couple of hours after Friday's second practice... and hasn't stopped since.  In between then and now, it's either bucketed down or poured.  As the cameras went live for Quals, the session was delayed for 30 minutes, with an announcement on what was going to be done at that point in 20.  Saturday's practice session was for all intents and purposes a washout.

The weather is supposed to break sometime in the night Suzuka time.

UPDATE @ 1218am:  The safety car went out on track, and it was having problems.  The big problem is that Suzuka actually has elevation changes, so the water flows downhill, towards the start/finish line.  Degner in particular is a swamp, but many places have deep standing (or worse, flowing) water.  The full wet tires are incredible pumps, blowing water out of their deep treads in prodigious amounts, but when the puddles are deeper than the tread depth they may as well as just be slicks... and that's the situation we're in.  The FIA just announced that there's no decision as of yet, and there'll be another announcement around 1am Pond Central time.  This isn't going to end well.

UPDATE @ 1237am: SPEED is replaying Practice 2.  Realistically, there's no way they can do quals today.  This isn't the first time this has happened.  In 2004, quals were hit by a tropical storm, the track was evacuated, and they ran the session on Sunday morning.  So what happens if they decide not to run quals?  The rules say if multiple drivers fail to set a time, their qualifying position will be the order in which they tried to set a lap, and then the order in which they left the pits. Failing that, car number order will be used to decide grid positions.  Since nobody could try to set a time, and nobody left the pit lane, it'd go by car number, which means that Jenson Button would be on pole with his teammate second... but don't expect that to happen.

UPDATE @ 1am:  Another 30 minutes have been added to the announcement time.  It's still pouring at Suzuka, and it's starting to get awfully dark.

UPDATE @ 105am: We have racing!  Okay, it's in the pit lane, but still...



UPDATE @ 130am:  Qualifying has officially been postponed until 10am Sunday Japan time.  That's approximately 6pm Pond Time, and SPEED will not be doing live coverage.  Instead, they'll be running it at 11pm, right before race coverage.  We'll be bringing qual results when they happen!

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When you're involved in both the Driver's and the Constructor's championship races this late in the season, many things have to go perfectly to have any sort of chance.  The driver has to be supremely confident in both his skills and those of the team.  The team has to be able to count on the driver to handle any new upgrades they throw onto the car and give them solid feedback on what works and what doesn't.  Particularly in this day and age of testing bans, it's imperative for updated cars to get as many laps on track as possible during the practice sessions. 

So when McLaren's Lewis Hamilton sent his MP4-25, festooned with the most upgrades of any car on the grid, sailing off track and into the wall during Friday's morning practice session, the team had to be crushed.  The rather violent impact had torn off the front left suspension and trashed the brand new nose rather completely.  That Hamilton, who has finished only one of the past four races, had only turned nine laps to that point meant that the team needed the reigning Driver's Champion, Jenson Button, to set off and run lap after lap to gather data on the new upgrades, tire wear, fuel consumption, and anything else you could think of, rather than splitting the duties with his teammate.  This he did with his usual professionalism... until he went off track at the same place Hamilton did.  That he managed to keep it off the wall, despite getting airborne as he rode over the curbs, was impressive as all get-out.  It also turned out to be desperately important, as Hamilton only made it back on track with seven minutes or so left in Q2. 

Just down the pit lane from McLaren, the boys from Red Bull were circulating endlessly around Suzuka.  They didn't bring more than a couple of upgrades to the race, but one could argue that they don't need to.  In any case the obvious reliability of the RB6 chassis, mixed with Seb Vettel's topping of the timesheets, would seem to make them the prohibitive favorites for Sunday's race, particularly as Ferrari didn't seem to be showing much more than an average pace.

But then there's the weather forecast.  As has often been said, rain is the great equalizer in Formula 1, and boy is there rain scheduled for Saturday.  The Legendary Announce Team said that the FIA nabobs were saying that up to two inches of precipitation could be in the offing, with the worst of it happening smack dab in the middle of Quals.  Now, a little bit of the wet is usually a good thing for a F1 race.  It throws an element of unpredictability, of randomness, into the scenario and opens the door for all sorts of wacky things to occur... but nothing is helped by having the contents of the Inland Sea suddenly transfer itself onto the Degner Curve.

We'll find out what happens in just a few hours!

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This afternoon, Wanderduck and I paid a visit to Duckford's Memorial Hall, as I was to be selling copies of a book written by three of Duck U's professors, while they were giving a speech.  It had been many a year since I was last there, and I left wishing I could have stayed a lot longer.    Reportedly, they have an actual WWI Chauchat LMG on display, and if only for curiosity value I wanted to see it: a less suitable weapon for trench warfare than the Chauchat would have to shoot the operator intentionally.  Alas, I was on the clock and so couldn't tarry.

However, on the way out Wanderduck insisted I take his picture... and the results are as you see above.

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I find myself with an armload of thoughts, none of which on their own is enough to merit a post of their own.  However, throw them all in one place and they might just pass as something interesting.

I've discovered that having a real honest-to-god satellite TV system is a very scary thing.  Until two weeks ago, Pond Central's apartment complex had an in-house system, maybe 40 channels, of middlin' quality.  Still, it had SciFi, and that was all I needed when I first moved in nigh on a decade ago... after all, that's where MST3K was shown, and what else would I ever need?  Later, I discovered the wonders of SPEED and the glory that is Formula 1, but that was so far in the future as to be laughable in retrospect.  As mentioned, a couple of weeks ago the complex dumped their own satellite system for DISH Network.  Of course, SPEED is on their second tier of programming, meaning that with the DVR reciever, I'm paying a silly amount of money per month.  I grumbled about "a la carte" and the like, but signed up anyway... gotta have F1.  It was only when I really looked at the second tier that I noticed a few hidden gems.  Gems like the NFL Network, for example.  Or the Documentary Channel.  Or BBC America.  Which shows Top Gear.  Oh my, very yes indeed.  And then there's the Sirius/XM music channels.  Or, in my case, channel.

I've pretty much locked in the station known as "1st Wave" (that's on channel 6022, if you've got Dish), to the point where it's replaced my old transistor radio which hasn't moved off of a Chicago sports-talk station in months.  1st Wave plays "70s and 80s Alternative" music, a term that doesn't mean anything, as the term "alternative" as referring to music didn't exist until the 90s.  Besides, this is what I listened to back then, how could it be alternative?  Simple Minds, Squeeze, The Fixx, Bowie, the Ramones, Roxy Music and/or Bryan Ferry, Joe Jackson, Erasure, the Smithereens, Madness (Night Boat to Cairo, no less), Thomas Dolby, the PsychoFurs, Depeche Mode, The Smiths and on and on and on.  Yes, please throw me in that briar patch.

I'm surprised at how hooked on Black Lagoon I became.  Based on some of the comments in the "recommend a show for a n00b" thread, and nigh-constant prodding by Brickmuppet in e-mails, I finally gave it a look.  Great googly moogly, why did I wait so long?  Yes, it's violent, the humor is dark at best (and deep, deep black at worst), but the characters are outstanding... though almost all of them are morally twisted.  Or psychopaths.  Or morally twisted psychopaths.  To say it's not for everyone is not taking it far enough.  But for those who do venture into the back alleys of Roanapur, it's worth the trip.  Muppet tells me that the English dub is first-rate, and that may very well be true, but I will never, ever hear it... because I have heard Revy speak in the Japanese track.  She's the main female character, and she's voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi.  She was the voice of Winry in FMA, Sylvia in Princess Lover, Parfet Balblair in Vandread, and Kirino in Bamboo Blade, amongst many many others.  But there's something about Revy's voice that... well, the description I've used is "liquid sex."  Doesn't matter that Revy is an amoral, murderous lunatic who'd be more than happy to blow your head off because you sneezed within three miles of her, that voice... It goes without saying that none of the other roles she's played sounds anything like Revy, of course.

One of the summer shows I was most excited about was Amagami SS, and I'm still enjoying the show immensely, but the recently ended Sae arc stretched my levels of disbelief a little thin.  How so?

more...

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1 "Some comments" instead of "Pete's impeccable guidance" is what I get. But yes, Ken knows his stuff.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at October 06, 2010 10:56 PM (9KseV)

2 I didn't realise at the time you hadn't seen Black Lagoon, or I would have prodded you a bit too.   It's hands-down the best action anime series of recent years, and one of my top ten overall for the past decade.

I need to catch up on Amagami though; I've only seen the first arc.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 06, 2010 11:51 PM (PiXy!)

3 One of my favorite scenes from Black Lagoon is an argument at a cafe between Rock and Revy (and as usual for.Roanapur, it ends in gunfire).    It's a situation I've seen other shows try, but Lagoon actually pulls it off - it feels believable to me that those two characters would have that fight.

Speaking of your recent interests, they aren't cutting into your research time too much, are they? 

Posted by: Siergen at October 07, 2010 01:06 PM (Xh3Fu)

4 Black Lagoon S2, the Vampire Twins arc, is a swift kick in the 'nads. It's not that it's different in any way... except it's a hell of a lot more brutal.  And weird. And psychopathic. Yet the writer still pulls it off (Ok, I have to complain about the loli with the chaingun-from-no-where. But that's all.)   The ending of that arc re-calibrated my Nihilism-o-Meter(tm)

Posted by: ubu at October 10, 2010 11:59 AM (GfCSm)

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From the slow, twisty, narrow Tilkefied Singapore street circuit, the F1 Circus now transitions to one of the oldest tracks on the calendar, the fast, smoothly flowing, Haruhi-appearing, Suzuka Circuit.  Located on the east coast of Japan, the track is one of the big favorites of the drivers, ranking up there with Silverstone and Spa-Francopants.  It's also one of the wetter races on the calendar, with rain being more the rule than the exception.  Let's take a look at the circuit map for this wonderful track:

Suzuka is notable for being the only figure-of-eight layout on the calendar, not that you would know it from TV coverage, and truthfully the bridge section flashes by so quickly you barely notice.  The circuit contains two or three legendary "named" turns. 

130R is arguably the fastest turn in F1, one of the few that's taken flat-out at the end of a long straight.  To say it's a stern test of a driver's mettle is an understatement.  Alas, it's no longer the fearsome 130meter radius (hence '130R') single bend that it used to be, turning it into a double-apex bend of 85m and a 340m immediately after.  This made it easier to navigate, but not all that much, and it's still a rough turn.

Then you have the S Curves.  If there's a better example of a 'rhythm section' on a race track anywhere in the world, I've never seen it.  Drivers say it's essentially a horizontal rollercoaster, and if you mess up the line at the entry, you've just blown your entire lap as you struggle to toss the car around the bends.  On the other hand, if you get it right you've just opened the door for all sorts of wonderful things like a quick run to the third of the named turns: Degner.

Degner doesn't seem to be anything special, just a gentle-ish bend to the right.  However, last year Turn 08 earned a dark place in everybody's heart with four separate accidents located there during Quals.  High curbs, a bump in the track, resurfacing that ended just short of Degner... take your pick as to why there were so many wrecks in 2009, but it's possible that the gremlins will still be there this year.  Cross your fingers...

Weather is forecast to be rainy all weekend, just to add another level of excitement to the already challenging circuit.  F1's weatherpeople have been pretty lousy at predictions this year, though, so it's really anybody's guess what it's going to be doing come race day.

One really nice feature of Suzuka is that the race is at a decent time here in the US.  Coverage begins on Thursday from 1159pm to 140am Friday, with LIVE pictures of 2nd Practice.  Quals are from 1159pm Friday to 130am Saturday morning.

The 2010 Grand Prix of Japan coverage is Sunday morning from 1230am to 3am, with a replay from 130pm to 4pm for all you people who actually, y'know, sleep.  All times are Pond Central, so Vaucaunson's Duck, you're getting the race at 1030pm on Saturday... you lucky bastard.  Maybe you can convince Dr John to watch it, eh?

Finally, SPEED has started to stream coverage of Friday's 1st Practice live on their website!  For Japan, the whole thing starts at 9pm at speedtv.com.  For those that read the F1Updates! but don't own a TV, here's your chance to actually see some Formula 1 running.  Now, the Legendary Announce Team doesn't commentate during these, so it's just ambient sound... which is great, too.

Of course, F1U! will be all over this race weekend... we'll see you then!

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1 Is this one that Tilke didn't design?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 05, 2010 12:23 AM (+rSRq)

2 Correct.  This track first saw a race in the 1960s, long before Tilke's evil hands began to torture F1 fans.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 05, 2010 06:50 AM (blg68)

3 It's a great live venue too. Transit to & from is very good.  I was last there in the late 90's & even for this non kanji gaijin I didn't get lost...  too much

Posted by: Tony von Krag at October 05, 2010 07:19 AM (VGXAE)

4 Somewhat OT: Here's a great photo for you. (Looks like it was really wet that day.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 05, 2010 03:20 PM (+rSRq)

5

Great preview!  And looking forward to the streaming coverage of the first practice. 

 

:-)

Posted by: Mallory at October 05, 2010 03:49 PM (WJ2qy)

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A couple of days ago, Steven was talking about an anime fetish/trope/whatever, namely, "Little Girls with Big Guns."  Last night, while I was waiting for my broadband connection to get fixed, I stumbled upon another example or two: Gretel from Black Lagoon 2nd Barrage.

You've gotta love the cute little plushy fob hanging from the barrel, neh?

In case you're wondering, it's a M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR.  Sort of halfway between an assault rifle and a machine gun, I suppose it's the predecessor of today's SAR.

Now, one can debate if Gretel actually falls into the category of "Little Girl," but that's an argument for another day.

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1 As I recall, Bonnie Parker (of the infamous Bonnie & Clyde) was known to have used the BAR in shoot-outs, and she was a petite, almost delicate little creature...

Posted by: Siergen at October 04, 2010 04:24 PM (Xh3Fu)

2 It was Clyde who used a BAR. She may have borrowed his on occasion, but I don't think it was her usual weapon.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 04, 2010 04:35 PM (+rSRq)

3 Also, Clyde cut off part of the barrel of his BAR to make it easier to handle.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 04, 2010 04:35 PM (+rSRq)

4 A cutdown increases recoil and blast. I have a Mosin M-59 as a living example.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at October 04, 2010 05:00 PM (9KseV)

5 Bonnie Parker, aka Bonnie Thornton,aka my great aunt (married Roy Thornton, grandfather on my mother's side brother). That side of my family always had an odd reputation. No wonder I liked them so much.

Posted by: Drheinous at October 04, 2010 05:23 PM (xVYR8)

6

Never fired one, always wished to.  I'd rather have had that than the M-14 I was issued.  (Just me)

But I did carry an M3 made by the Hydramatic Div of GM forty years ago....  Only had 2 mags, tho...

Posted by: The Old Man at October 05, 2010 12:36 PM (+LRPE)

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For the past three nights now, my broadband connection has slowed to a crawl.  I can hear you asking, "Wonderduck, just how slow is your connection?"  Well, earlier this afternoon I was getting a steady and solid 170kB/s on uTorrent.  Now?  Less than 4kB/s, and I gather that's been the pattern since Thursday.  Webpages, even simple ones like Google's front page, take minutes to load.  I'd probably be getting better results from a dialup connection. 

I'm not even sure this post will update correctly, but on the off-chance that it does, here's a frightened Sae.

-Amagami SS ep11

Cross wingtips and knock wood, the Pond'll be back up to full speed before Monday, so I can do the F1 on SPEED! report for the Japanese GP, and before I start to suffer internet withdrawl. 

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...please stand by.

(broadband problems, not computer related)

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The story behind this duckie just takes my breath away.  The father of one of my old high school flock (Marty Suspenders) stopped into the Duck U Bookstore a couple of weeks ago.  I was surprised, as I hadn't seen him in years, but he just stopped in to chat.  Very cool catching up with him, but when he mentioned he was going to Germany, I asked him to beg, steal or borrow a duckie from that European country.  Now, I ask anybody who's going overseas (heck, a trip of any duration) to look for rubber duckies from their destination, but only once has there ever been a result.  In my dreams, right?  I've gotten the distinct impression that rubber duckies just aren't all that common in most countries of the world.

Anyway, Suspenders the Elder walked back into the store on Monday with the above duckie and a world of smiles.  He and the friends he was visiting were on the Metro, on their way to go dancing in Berlin (for some reason, I never picture people in Berlin dancing), when at a stop he saw this kiosk selling, amongst other fripperies and geegaws, the Berlin duckie!  Of course he picked it up for lil' ol' me, and off they went with Mr S trying to explain about the weird friend of his son...

What he didn't realize, he told me, is that the duckie had already fallen out of his jacket pocket and gotten lost in the crowd, which must have been sheer torture for the Berlin duckie.  Imagine being told you're going to America to hang out with 400+ rubber duckies, and then have that dream taken away from you... yeesh!  But, surprisingly enough, Mr S found the duckie in the Metro station on the way back.  Dramatic tale of duckie rescue!  Then it made the long flight back to Duckford and into my wings and a happy introduction to the rest of the flock here at Pond Central.

That's it, that's the whole story.  Pretty darn cool, huh?

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-Strike Witches 2 ep12

The new series was really quite good, but it could have used more Sanya V Litvyak for my tastes.  As a lark, I went back and watched the original OVA, which I called "the greatest seven minutes of anime ever", and I discovered something...

-Strike Witches OVA
...it's amazing what you can do with a budget.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:13 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Dark clouds overhead but a brightly lighted track below, with the five points leaders sitting in the first five slots on the grid.  Sounds like a perfect setup for a great race, but is that what we got?  THIS is your F1 Update! for the 2010 Grand Prix of Singapore!

*LIGHTS OUT:  For once, the entire field made it away and through the first couple of turns without serious incident.  Felipe Massa made a fantastic start from his grid position in Palembang, catching up with the rest of the field very quickly.  However, all was not well amongst the thundering herd.  Vitantonio Liuzzi earned himself a Mooooooo-oove of the Race nomination by managing to run into both ends of Grizzly Nick Heidfeld's Sauber on one pass.  Heidfeld had to limp around to the pits, while Liuzzi's Force India struggled to complete the first lap, so it came as quite the surprise when he blew right past the pit entrance.  However, Felipe Massa didn't, intentionally.  He came right in at the end of the first lap and changed from the soft tires to the harder compound, gambling on a risky strategy.  And why not?  It's not like he'd fall any further behind.  But Ferrari didn't account for the incompetence of Vitantonio Liuzzi. 

*SAFETY CAR:  Liuzzi zipped past the pit lane and began Lap 2.  He never completed it.  His suspension, showing obvious signs of damage from his mugging of Heidfeld, gave out and he came to a halt out on track... at a point on the circuit where there weren't any cranes.  Out came the Safety Car, and out the window went everybody's strategy.  The back half of the herd pitted immediately, with the top 10 staying out... except for Mark Webber.  Webber rolled the dice and pitted, potentially putting himself in an excellent position.  If he could stay in contact with the leaders, when THEY stopped later in the race the Red Bull would leap high up the standings, potentially as high as first.

*RUNAWAY:  It quickly became clear that Webber was going to be racing for third.  Polesitter HWMNBN and Red Bull's Seb Vettel rapidly pulled away from the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.  By Lap 20, the two had a nearly 15 second lead over the 2008 Champion and over 20 seconds over fourth place Jenson Button.  The lead kept widening as the two frontrunners took turns setting fast lap of the race as they tried to open up a big enough gap to pit and stay ahead of Webber.  Hamilton blinked first, coming in on Lap 29 after he had run his tires into the ground.  Mark Webber swept past as Hamilton crawled down the pitlane to return to the race.  On Lap 30, HWMNBN, Vettel and Jenson Button in third pulled in for new tires.  The Ferrari driver came out first, despite Vettel having a faster pitstop... until the Red Bull driver tried to exit his pitbox in 2nd Gear.  Once again, the young speedster choked under pressure, with a chance to take the lead in the balance. 

*BUT THEN:  If F1 fans didn't love Gandalf Kobyashi before today, when he hip-checked Slappy Schumacher into the next neighborhood they had to begin feeling all tingly.  A rookie asserting himself on the Great Schumi?  That's just beautiful.  However, a lap later saw Gandalf fishtail himself into the wall but hard, coming to a stop on the racing line just out of sight from cars coming down on him.  The HRT of Bruno Senna, the first car to come across the broken Sauber, arrowed right into the side of Gandalf.  Felipe Massa, showing the sort of reflexes that one expects from frightened cats, barely avoided adding to the carnage.  Another Safety Car comes out as the track marshals try to figure out how to untangle the wrecks.  The restart came on Lap 36, with the standings reading HWMNBN, Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, and Button.

*SAY GOODBYE TO A CHAMPIONSHIP:  While HWMNBN and Vettel had clear track in front of them, somehow the Virgin VR-1s of Lucas DiGrassi and Timo Glock had gotten gathered up by the Safety Car so he was sitting directly in front of Webber... and this is one of the few places that F1 could take lessons from NASCAR.  In NASCAR safety car situations, the field is lined up in order of standing for all intents and purposes.  In F1, the field bunches up in whatever order they get to the Safety Car.  Webber and Hamilton got past Glock, but DiGrassi balked the Australian quite badly.  Hamilton, taking advantage, pulled right tight behind the Red Bull then swept past on the outside.  Everything was to the advantage of the McLaren as they approached the next turn: he had the racing line AND he was clearly in front of the Red Bull.  Webber, however, saw an opening that truly wasn't there and smashed hard into Hamilton, deranging the MP4-25's suspension while the RB-6 continued on merrily.  Hamilton made it into a run-off area and, furiously throwing his steering wheel into the night, retired from the race for the second time in a row.  Unlike at Monza however, this time wasn't his fault.  While the stewards declared it a "racing incident," replays pretty clearly showed that Webber wouldn't have made the turn if he hadn't hit the McLaren.  The Red Bull did sustain some damage, picking up what was later described as a nasty vibration, but Hamilton's chances for a second Driver's Championship suddenly look grim indeed.

*THE ENDS:  Ahead of the carnage, HWMNBN and Vettel pulled away again, continuing to exchange fast lap between the two of them for the rest of the race.  While the Ferrari held the lead, the Red Bull wasn't letting it get away in the least.  Eventually, they swept across the finish line only 0.2 seconds apart, one of the closest finishes in recent memory.  All wasn't calm behind them, though.  Robert Kubica had managed to get himself to 7th place, but drove the tires off his Renault... literally.  On Lap 46, he had to pit for new rubber, his right-rear tire showing the canvas backing in some places.  He dropped to 13th by the time he returned to the track... and thus began one of the better drives we've seen in a while.  On Lap 52, he passed Buemi for 11th and his Renault teammate Petrov for 10th, and pulled up to Massa, whom he passed on Lap 53.  On Lap 55, Kubica passed Force India's Adrian Sutil for 7th, regaining the position he relinquished when he pitted.  Just awesome driving from the Pole.  And then there's the Heikki Kovaleinninninnie story.  On Lap 59, the Finn and Seb Buemi bump, with the Lotus ending up pointing the wrong direction but able to continue.  Unknown to the Finnish driver, the contact caused a small fuel leak in his Lotus.  By the time he made it to the front straight, his engine was fully aflame:

Understandably unwilling to bring a blazing car into the pitlane, Heikki instead pulled to a stop just short of the start/finish line.  Once the Lotus stopped, the rear of the car went up like a molotov cocktail had been thrown at it.  Unfortunately, the pitlane fire crew wasn't near his stopping point.  However, Heikki himself grabbed a fire extinguisher and began to fight the blaze.

The Lotus was pretty much toast by the time HWMNBN and Seb Vettel ended the race, the smoldering car a dramatic counterpoint to the victors.

*DRIVER OF THE RACE:  HWMNBN and Seb Vettel both deserve this award as the two of them drove flawless races.  The Ferrari driver, however, pulled off the rare F1 Grand Slam: pole, win, fast lap, and he led every lap of the race.  Yeah, that's pretty dominant. 

*TEAM OF THE RACE:  Red Bull.  2nd and 3rd, retaking the lead in the constructor's championship, and one of your men leading the driver's championship?  Yeah, pretty good race for the team.

*MOVE OF THE RACE:  As previously mentioned, Robert Kubica pitted from 7th late in the race and then fought his way back up to regain the position relinquished.  What was really impressive was the pass on Adrian Sutil to complete his quest, passing the Force India driver on the outside of the 90-degree Turn 7 at the end of the longest straight on the track.  Well done for the Pole, and maybe enough to earn him a drive for Ferrari next year... or so the rumors say, anyway.

*MOOOOOOOOOO-OOVE OF THE RACE: Grizzly Nick Heidfeld was happy.  He was finally back in a F1 car for real, and had proven that he hadn't lost anything in the meantime.  The first lap had gone swimmingly, and things looked good for the rest of the race... maybe even points!  And then Vitantonio Liuzzi came along and did bad things.  First the Force India driver slammed into the rear of the Sauber.  In one swift mooooo-oove, Liuzzi went past the damaged Sauber, then cut back across Heidfeld's nose, sending pieces of it flying off into the night.  That's right, Liuzzi somehow figured out how to damage both ends of the Sauber in one move, without sending it into the wall.  Pretty impressive, and quite the Moooooooo-oove!  Heidfeld, his downforce compromised, ended up in the walls around Lap 30 or so.  Liuzzi, in a case of just desserts, retired his car on Lap 3.

*SELECTED DRIVER QUOTES OF THE RACE:



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Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:34 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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