Kurokami (aka "Black God") has a curious history.  Originally a manga, it was written by a Korean manhwa (Korea's version of manga) team specifically for the Japanese market.  The authors, humorously, don't entirely know Japanese, a fact they make fun of in the omakes at the end of the books.  The anime (produced by Sunrise), however, is the first ever to be broadcast simultaneously in Japan and America (on ImaginAsian TV, dubbed).  So, what of the show?

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-Kurokami the Animation, ep01

Too much pre-fight chili, I guess.

Writeup on this interesting show coming soon...

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I just got back from dinner with The Librarian.  I also just got back from dinner with Momzerduck.  At the same place and the same time.  The two of them had never met before.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement.  It turns out that the two of them were being really really sneaky!  They teamed up on a Christmas gift for me... and had been planning it for nearly three months!

Sneaky, sneaky... and amazing, too.  I'm not going to say what the gift was yet, as it deserves a blogpost all its own and I don't have a camera at the moment, but it falls into that category of "Oh my."  There were almost tears.

Thank you, both of you.  You're both the greatest, y'know that?

But SNEAKY.

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Via Don through Ubu, there's this:

The gist…Retrieve and share the first sentence [or two, or three] of the first blog post of each of the twelve months of (r.i.p.) 2008.

In that I can't work up the energy to actually blog about something worthwhile at the moment, I'll bite.  Here we go!

January: ...I'll always have the duck.

February: So the first race of the 2008 F1 season, the Australian Grand Prix, is 38 days away.  This seems like a good time to take a look at who's driving for which team this year.

March: I almost wish I hadn't checked this.

April: Perhaps unsurprisingly, the organizers of this week's race in Bahrain have... requested... that Max Mosley perhaps not appear at the track.  He's expected to do comply with that request.

May:  Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit his own bad self, had a F1-related post today:

DANICA PATRICK going Formula One?

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Feh.  Double-Feh.

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Touhou fandom is something I know nothing about.  Apparently, however, it's godawfully huge in Japan.  Originally a scrolling shooter game by a one-man 'team', it's grown into something much more massive than that.  Oh, the game is still done by the one guy, but there are now either 11 or 14 Touhou games, depending on if you want to count spinoffs or not.  It's so big, that at the recent Comiket there were nearly 900 individual sellers of Touhou-related doujin manga, and the game even has its own sizeable festival (called Reitaisai) devoted solely to a Comiket-like doujin market.

So... hugely popular in Japan, Touhou is.  Fans have assumed that it's just a matter of time before some production company scoops it up and makes an official anime out of it, but as of yet there's been no sign of that happening (one reason might be that ZUN, the creator of the games, wants to direct and write the show himself).  When you boil it down, though, it'd kinda be like making an anime based on Defender or Galaga... who knows how it'd turn out?

But, remember when I said that it was popular in the doujin circles?  Well, one group decided to make their own anime.

Skeptical?  I was.  It's a lot easier to draw a manga than to do a full-fledged anime.  So how'd they do?

more...

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Readers of The Pond know that I have a thing for the Pacific War, and even moreso for the Battle of Midway.  The study of that period is one of my avid hobbies, and is what lead me to my fondness of Japan in general and eventually anime in particular (though in a fairly roundabout way).  I know quite a bit about the strategies used by both sides in the conflict, and could talk tactics with confidence as well.

With a few exceptions however, the one thing I don't have much knowlege about is the people involved.  Oh, I don't mean the Halseys and Nagumos, but the Chucks and Morts and Joes and Mitsuos and Hidekis... what about them? 

While I was doing my Christmas shopping at a local bookstore, I stumbled on a new release that seemed to have been aimed directly at my bump of curiosity.  A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron 8, by Robert J. Mrazek tells the stories of the men made famous by the Battle of Midway, the only squadron flying off the USS Hornet to make contact with the enemy on that day in June, 1942... and which was almost entirely wiped out as it made its run on the Japanese carriers.  All the squadron's Devastators torpedo bombers were shot down, and only one man, George Gay, survived. 

But that wasn't the whole squadron.  Historians of the battle will remember that the first six Avengers in US Navy service were flying from Midway's single runway after a hurried deployment from Pearl Harbor just before the battle.  They, too, were part of Torpedo 8, a detachment left behind when the Hornet sailed.  Further, another group of VT-8 pilots and crewmen, including the squadron XO, remained behind at Pearl waiting for the rest of the Avengers to arrive. 

Later, VT-8 wound up flying from the USS Saratoga until it was torpedoed.  Many of her squadrons wound up at Espiritu Santo, and some of them wound up going to Guadalcanal as part of the Cactus Air Force.  VT-8 was one of those.  The second half of the book covers that period of time, and the many, many trials the squadron suffered through.  Indeed, VT-8 suffered the highest casualties amongst naval squadrons at both Midway and Guadalcanal.  At Midway, 45 of 48 officers and men serving in Torpedo 8 were killed.  At Guadalcanal, seven of the remaining members were killed and another eight wounded.

It also wound up one of the most decorated squadrons in Navy history, if not the most decorated in US service, period.  It was the only squadron to receive two Presidental Unit Citations from FDR.  Its 35 pilots earned 39 Navy Crosses before it was decommissioned after Guadalcanal.

A Dawn Like Thunder is written almost entirely from interviews conducted with the few members of VT-8 still living, and from letters and memoirs by those who've passed away.  We meet men like Swede Larson, the squadron XO who took command of the squadron after Midway.  We learn that as a leader, he was a martinet who wasn't afraid to belittle his men, issued promotions not on how they performed but if he liked them or not.  Twice, men under his command were pushed so far that they pulled their sidearms on him.  He was also a courageous pilot (though one who refused to admit mistakes).  We meet Bert Earnest, the pilot of the single Avenger to make it back to Midway, though so shot full of holes that it never flew again.  He then went on to survive Guadalcanal, and WWII as a whole.  We meet Chief Petty Officer James Hammond, who won a Silver Star at Guadalcanal in large part because he built three 'Frankenstein Avengers', piecing scraps of many planes together to make one (barely flyable) bomber.  This at a time when the Cactus Air Force was down to a bare handful of planes.  The lineup of pilots and crew goes on, but you never feel like anybody is getting short shrift. The wives and girlfriends of some of the men even get their nods.

Robert Mrazek has done a fine job of tying all his research together and turning it into a coherent and readable story.  The small number of inaccuracies (Midway was described as having two airfields in 1942, when there was only one, for example) are easily overlooked, and don't detract from the superb job he's done telling the human story of Torpedo 8.  Highly recommended!

Mrazek and many of the men he wrote about are members of the Battle of Midway Roundtable, an organization that's been in existence since 1997.   I'm proud to be a member myself.  It's free to join, and if you're interested in the Battle of Midway or the Pacific War, you owe it to yourself to become a member.

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I've never really been a hockey fan.  Oh, sure, I lived in Chicago growing up and was at least slightly aware of the Blackhawks, and the two years I spent attending grad school were up in Minnesota, but the sport didn't really interest me much.  So, while I'm not a hockey fan, I do know a little bit about the sport's history in Chicago... the 'Hawks are an Original Six team, for pete's sake!  I like the uniforms ("sweaters" in the sport's parlance), and the Blackhawks' in particular is a classic of sports merchandise.

Almost 10 years ago, I attended my first hockey game, as my girlfriend at the time was a fan of the Chicago Wolves.  It was a great time, and part of me wished I had been exposed to the sport more growing up.  These days Duckford has a professional team of its own, the IceHogs, which are a 'minor league' team of the Blackhawks.  But I can't get very into the sport.

In recent memory, the 'Hawks have been not only bad, but the team owner Bill Wirtz refused to put their games on television, short of the nationally televised games on ESPN they were scheduled for (or whatever... I'm really not a hockey fan).  As a result, the only way you could see them play was to actually attend a game.  Hardcore fans did that, of course, but people who might become fans couldn't just flip on the TV and catch a game... like you can do with just about every other sport in the history of the world.  However, last year Bill Wirtz died,  and his son, Rocky, went about changing the public's opinion of the Blackhawks.  The games are now on TV, and he brought in John McDonough, who once was the President of Chicago Cubs and a great marketing mind, to run the team.  As a result, the 'Hawks are the hottest ticket in Chicago... it doesn't hurt that they're a pretty good young team, too.

Today, the 'Hawks were on the national stage: the NHL's annual event called 'The Winter Classic.'  The game, against the Detroit Red Wings, was played outdoors... at Wrigley Field, no less!  While they lost, 6-4, the 'Hawks put on a helluva show.  Particularly the pregame stuff... and specifically the National Anthem.  Here, take a look:

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So 2008 is passing into history, and there's a big part of me that is happy to see it go.  I can't overstate the effect the arrival of my elderly, stroke-ridden Grandmother at my folks' place had on the family.  You, the readers of The Pond, were only exposed to it towards the end, but during the 11 months she was in Duckford... well, there were more unpleasant times than good ones.  It was hardest on Momzerduck, of course, but she handled things the way she always does: strongly.

In the two mainstays of The Pond, though, 2008 was another banner year.  In Formula 1, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the Driver's Championship in the final turn on the final lap of the final race of the season; the F1 Update! for that race wound up being The Pond's 1000th post.  We also saw the first wins of Sebastian Vettel for Toro Rosso in a fun (and rare) wet race at Monza, Robert Kubica for BMW at the same track (Montreal) where he had a serious crash in 2007, and Heikki Kovaleinninnie for McLaren in Hungary when Felipe Massa blew an engine with three laps to go.  We also had new tracks in Valencia, Spain and the first night race in F1 history through the streets of Singapore.  Then there was the terrible decision at the swimming pool at Spa-Francopants which torpedoed a very exciting race and put the decision in the hands of the FIA.  We also saw Adrian Sutil, driving for the new team Force India, have a shot at a podium at Monaco ripped from his hands by some terrible driving from Kimi Raikkonen, the passing of the SuperAguri team at Turkey, the retirement of F1U! favorite David Coulthard's Chin, Rubens Barrichello driving in a record-breaking 257th race, and FIA supremo Max Mosley having some woman trouble.  All in all, an amazing season of F1, perhaps the best of all time.

On the anime front, the simply fantastic series called ARIA came to an end, but not before it aired what I consider the best episode of anime I've ever seen.  A few months later came the announcement that it had been licensed by Nozomi, which made me very happy.  2008 also saw the near-death-experience of ADV, with the final Kanon '06 dvd unreleased, and the subsequent arrivial of white knight Funimation (for which I haven't thanked them enough).    We also saw the first (and currently only) AMV from Wonderduck Productions, "...Angel", make it to the Semifinals of the animemusicvideos.org Viewers Choice Awards, only to be denied the Final round by at least one AMV that had subtitles in it.  Nice... not bitter, though! 

Strike Witches and Ikkitousen Great Guardians also debuted, resulting in people looking at me weirdly as I loved both series.  The best series of the year, however (non-ARIA division), was a tossup between either Clannad or Bamboo Blade: two completely different shows, but both good in different ways.  Hidamari x365, a peaceful laid-back show, proved to be historic in the "Ducks In Anime" category, with nearly every episode having a rubber duckie in it somewhere.  Surprisingly, the undead anime (we'll have to drive a stake through it's chest, cut its head off and bury the body at a crossroad to get it to go away) known as Evangelion came out with a new retelling in movie form that was pretty good (and looked great).  And in what was probably my Crowning Moment Of Awesome for the year, I got to metaphorically slap around an anime n00b at the Duck U. Bookstore.

No year can be complete, however, without a big thank you to Big Papa Pixy for his letting The Pond sully his servers for another year.  Couldn't do it without him... or you, my readers!  May we all have a better 2009!

...now, where's those party hats?

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-Wallace & Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death

There's nothing better than a Wallace & Gromit adventure, but it takes so long to create one (almost a day per second of film), that they come out only rarely.  Imagine my surprise to discover that A Matter of Loaf and Death, a half-hour show, aired this past Christmas day on the BBC... and drew higher ratings than the Queen's annual address!  14.4 million people were watching, with 53.3% of all households in the UK tuning in (the highest rated Super Bowl, in 1982, was watched by 49.1% of all US households).

And I can understand why... it was very funny, a fine successor to all the other shorts and films Aardman Animation has done. 

Of course, there are ducks.

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I'm waiting for inspiration to strike, because at the moment, I'm out of things to blog about, and don't really want to blog much anyway.

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Just once, I'd like a day where the weather is normal this winter.  Three heavy snowfalls, three days where the high barely broke zero, dangerous windchills, and now?  It's going to be 50 on Saturday.  Sounds nice, except A) we're supposed to have thunderstorms, and B) it's going to drop below freezing Saturday night.

Oh, and did I mention the fog?  Cold snow + warm air temps = heavy, heavy fog.  Driving home from my folks' place tonight was... exciting, in an unpleasant way.  At one point, I had one eye on the yellow line to my left and the other eye on the faint pair of brakelights a handful of car-lengths ahead of me.  30mph was the top speed I reached.

So, yeah, I'd like a nice, normal sort of winter day: high 20s, partly cloudy, maybe a flurry... that'd be nice. 

UPDATE 12/27/08 @ 1016am:

The view from my balcony Saturday morning.

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On the twelfth day of Duckmas, Wonderduck gave to me...

...all the duckies in the grand finale!
...a duckie dressed as a Christmas tree...
...elf duckies wrapping presents for the tree...
...an Angelduck with icicles...
...two Chanukah duckies!
...two reinduckies in a birdbath...
...a Santaduck in a blizzard...
...a Santaduck at the mallllllllll...
...a snowboarding duckie...
...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinduck...
...two snowducks...
...and a duckie in a fir tree!

Merry Christmas, everybody!

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On the eleventh day of Duckmas, Wonderduck gave to me...

...a duckie dressed as a Christmas tree!
...elf duckies wrapping presents for the tree...
...an Angelduck with icicles...
...two Chanukah duckies!
...two reinduckies in a birdbath...
...a Santaduck in a blizzard...
...a Santaduck at the mallllllllll...
...a snowboarding duckie...
...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinduck...
...two snowducks...
...and a duckie in a fir tree!

This photo was taken in the executive meeting room (called the Cool Lounge) at Duck U. yesterday.  Some of the looks I was getting were quite funny as I was splayed out on the table with my camera stacked on a pile of coasters, trying to get the shot. 

Maybe if I had waited for the meeting to end first...?

Coming tomorrow... the grand finale!

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On the tenth day of Duckmas, Wonderduck gave to me...

...elf duckies wrapping presents for the tree!
...an Angelduck with icicles...
...two Chanukah duckies!
...two reinduckies in a birdbath...
...a Santaduck in a blizzard...
...a Santaduck at the mallllllllll...
...a snowboarding duckie...
...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinduck...
...two snowducks...
...and a duckie in a fir tree!

I'll tell you, having some elves to do the wrapping comes in handy... I just wish they could have done the shopping for me, too!  Now, if I had a meido duckie, I'd be all set... Momzerduck and Ph.Duck are coming over on Christmas day, and I've gotta do some cleaning.

Except I'm feeling miserable... if I'm lucky, it's just stress.  If I'm not, I've got an ick... and there's nothing worse than a duck with the ick.

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On the ninth day of Duckmas, Wonderduck gave to me...

...an Angelduck with icicles!
...two Chanukah duckies!
...two reinduckies in a birdbath...
...a Santaduck in a blizzard...
...a Santaduck at the mallllllllll...
...a snowboarding duckie...
...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinduck...
...two snowducks...
...and a duckie in a fir tree!

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On the eighth day of Duckmas, Wonderduck gave to me...

...two Chanukah duckies!
...two reinduckies in a birdbath...
...a Santaduck in a blizzard...
...a Santaduck at the mallllllllll...
...a snowboarding duckie...
...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinduck...
...two snowducks...
...and a duckie in a fir tree!

^{(Thanks to Ohave Shalom Synagogue in Duckford for the use of their magazine!)}

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On the seventh day of Duckmas, Wonderduck gave to me...

...two reinduckies in a birdbath!
...a Santaduck in a blizzard...
...a Santaduck at the mallllllllll...
...a snowboarding duckie...
...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinduck...
...two snowducks...
...and a duckie in a fir tree!

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Over the years, many F1 fans have accused the FIA of being members of the Ferrari tifosi.  Many times, the Scuderia has gotten away scot-free with things that other teams would be slammed for... and yet, there have been those who've partaken of the Red Kool-Aid who have looked the other way, blatantly ignoring the double-standards.

Luca di Montezemelo, Ferrari supremo, recently suggested that it's time for Darth Ecclestone to step down from his position in F1.  In an interview with the Times of London, Ecclestone replied in a fairly incendiary way:

"The only thing he has not mentioned is the extra money Ferrari get above all the other teams and all the extra things Ferrari have had for years - the 'general help' they are considered to have had in Formula One.  Ferrari get so much more money than everyone else. They know exactly what they get, they are not that stupid, although they are not that bright, either. They get about $80 million more. When they win the Constructors' Championship, which they did this year, they got $80 million more than if McLaren had won it. They were the only team that broke ranks with the other manufacturers (in 2003, during a teams revolt involving a plan for a breakaway series- Wonderduck)- why did they break ranks?  That's where the $80 million comes in. We 'bought' Ferrari. We 'bought' Ferrari's loyalty. Our deal with Ferrari was that we 'bought' them so they would not go to the others."

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On the sixth day of Duckmas, Wonderduck gave to me...

...a Santaduck in a blizzard!
...a Santaduck at the mallllllllll...
...a snowboarding duckie...
...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinduck...
...two snowducks...
...and a duckie in a fir tree!

Yep, Snowmageddon has come back to Duckford.  Duck U. is closed today due to the weather, and the weather nabobs are saying that when it's all over, we'll have about 10 to 12 inches of snow on the ground... and I believe it.  There's an awful lot of the white stuff out there, and you can see how hard it's coming down in the picture, which was taken just a handful of minutes ago. 

Snow Day!

UPDATE 12noon:  The snow appears to have stopped.  I just got back in from cleaning off the Duckmobile.  Good packing snow, fluffy but damp.  While there was maybe nine inches stacked on every horizontal surface, it just fell off the car when I prodded it with a snowbrush.  Easy!  The big dustpan made short work of the white stuff piled around the car, too.  Of course, I'll have to dig out an egress when the snowplow comes through the parking lot, but I can live with that.  It's a Snow Day, after all!  They're just as nice as an adult as they were when you were a kid...

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