The package from JList shows as being at the 97005 post office, so maybe they'll try to deliver it tomorrow. Or something.

The package from HLJ is scheduled for delivery on Thursday, and that one's Fedex, and it'll definitely arrive.

So one way or another I'll have a new statuette this week. Hinako will be demoted to the shelf, and Eris will be the queen of the computer table, sitting on top of Deneb (my Windows Home Server).

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 09:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Eris the catgirl is living up to her namesake, Eris the goddess of discord.

I chickened out and ordered another copy of the figurine from HobbyLink. And after a couple of days they sent me an acknowledgement. Only problem is that I loused up their order system, too, and somehow ended up with the default payment system, Paypal.

Now I dislike Paypal more than I think I can express. I don't trust them for beans. They won't take credit cards, or they wouldn't last time I made a serious attempt to deal with them. Instead, they wanted me to give them the access information for my checking account, which effectively meant they could go in and take whatever they wanted, any time they wanted.

Yeah, I know why they do that. You don't have to tell me. But in reducing their risk, they're maximizing mine, and that's not something I'm willing to accept.

Anyway, I've exchanged a few emails with HLJ and I think I've got it straightened out to get my credit card charged instead. I hope.

By tomorrow I think I'll know. I hope so, because if I understand the first email they sent me, then if this hasn't been straightened out by Monday they're going to cancel my order.

By the way, their price is about $30 less than JList's.

Anyway, I haven't had anything like this kind of trouble with mailorder in a long time, and I think it's because Eris is hexing me. Are we really sure she isn't the Greek goddess after all?

UPDATE: It isn't because of Japan. I haven't had any trouble with CDJapan or Amazon JP. My orders with them all went very smoothly.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 07:26 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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When I saw today's APOD, it made me think of this:

Keroro Gunsou, movie 4

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 02:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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JList just shipped my statuette of Eris. But they used Japan Post. I had thought I had specified something like Fedex.

See, the problem is that it'll be delivered by USPS. And USPS doesn't think I live here. It's a long story but here's the short version: a long time ago I got sick and stopped picking up my mail. The delivery guy decided I didn't live here any more and stopped delivering mail to me.

To get it turned on again, I'd have to go to the post office. But I don't know where it is, and I don't have a car, and fact is, I don't miss it. USPS didn't deliver anything I cared about. Except for my rent, all my bills get autopaid by my bank. My brother's home is my legal address and anything important goes there. And I pay my rent by hand, walking up to the office of the apartment complex.

So for five years or so, I haven't received any mail. And there's no real incentive to do anything about that.

What will USPS do when the box from Japan shows up? What I hope is that they'll try to deliver it to my door. What I fear is that they'll bounce it back to Japan.

Dammit, I was careless and didn't look closely enough at the shipping choices.

I wonder if anyone else still has that statuette and if it's too late to order another one?

UPDATE: CDJapan had it, but it was preorder only.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 08:38 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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The statuette of Eris that I ordered was supposedly going to ship in August, and there ain't a lot more of August left, and I was getting worried.

So over the weekend I got into JList's site and checked the status of my order. And I noticed a small mistake in the shipping address. Oops! Lucky I checked!

So I popped over to their service page and left them a message about it. Sunday I got back a response saying it had been changed, and also that the product is in and they're preparing to ship. I haven't gotten a formal shipping notice yet, but I don't imaging it will be long.

This is the second time I've had to tell them to change things. The other time was when my credit card number changed. My fault, both times, or at least not their fault, and I feel a bit guilty troubling them. Of course that's silly; they want it to ship and arrive. But still, I feel like I've been a bad customer. Or at least not a perfect one.

And now, let's look around and see if there's anything else I can feel guilty about today, alright?

UPDATE: It's cold today and it looks like it might rain. Obviously my fault. I'M SORRY!!!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 12:01 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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That's a phrase from wargaming I always liked. It means, "Pick up whatever is handy and swing it."

Usually it's pretty pitiful, but it's better than fighting with your bare hands, unless you're trained to do that.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 06:37 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 The head of my ninjutsu school, Master Albright, was a big enthusiast of improvised weapons and showed us some nice demos, but we only trained with basic things that were most likely to be found on the ground: e.g. stones, sticks of odd sizes. But I learned that you can deal a serious damage with just house keys if you know what you're doing. Like any weapons, improvised weapons are a force multiplier.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at August 26, 2011 06:51 PM (9KseV)

2 On casual pondering, I imagine the trick to doing damage with house keys is to grip them between the fingers, sort of like a brass knuckle with spikes?

Posted by: metaphysician at August 26, 2011 07:10 PM (3GCAl)

3 Generally, yes.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at August 26, 2011 07:31 PM (9KseV)

4 Kirika approves of this thread, but probably thinks anyone who doesn't use toy trucks is a poser.

Posted by: Mikeski at August 26, 2011 11:10 PM (GbSQF)

5 They can be very effective if you're Jackie Chan.....

Posted by: Mauser at August 26, 2011 11:10 PM (cZPoz)

6 Which series is the image from?

Posted by: Tom Tjarks at August 27, 2011 06:20 AM (T5fuR)

7 Nevermind.. read your recent review and figured it out!

Posted by: Tom Tjarks at August 27, 2011 06:25 AM (T5fuR)

8 Yeah, it's a picture from Dog Days.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 27, 2011 10:14 AM (+rSRq)

9 I looked at that and thought: "Caption this picture: 'You have skipped your share of the kitchen chores for the last time!'"

Posted by: ubu at August 27, 2011 10:24 AM (GfCSm)

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Now that I can access Regulus again, it means I can start writing reviews again.

So I've written a review of Dog Days

UPDATE: Looks like Pete's decided to give it a try.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 10:02 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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This chick knows what to do with one of those weird creatures!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 03:56 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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Those... those things... down front! Aaagh! Like something out of my worst nightmares!

(I'm told that one of them is named "Neco-Arc" and the others are her friends. When we talk about liking catgirls, that is not what we mean!)

(But maybe those could be the ones we kill when we overanalyze stuff? Please? Pretty please?)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 08:38 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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So Sengoku Otome -- Momoiro Paradox didn't turn out to be too bad. No one would mistake it for a top drawer series, but it tells an interesting story, and the time travel aspect of it isn't a disjointed mess.

They didn't explain everything (for instance, why they're all women), and there's a huge hook at the end for a sequel.

The main reason it works is that Hide Yoshino AKA "Hideyoshi" doesn't turn out to be a whiny ball of angst. She gets her act together pretty early, and though she can't fight, she ends up being an increasingly valuable retainer for Nobunaga. Plus, the Nobunaga character is more interesting and... I'm tempted to say "well rounded" but I fear I'd be accused of double entendre.

OK, it's a silly fan service show. But there are neat battles, and a lot of surprisingly interesting characters, and there's a pretty good series-level story. Which is all the better because it isn't the story you think you're going to get after you watch the first couple of episodes. It ends up going someplace entirely different. And when I got to the end I realized that they handled that very well. They knew where they were going, from the very beginning, and did a nice job faking me out.

Considering the pivotal place that Tokugawa Ieyasu has in history as we know it, I was a bit surprised at how the Ieyasu character was handled in this show. It almost seemed sacrilegious, like someone telling a story about how George Washington was an evil genius bent on world conquest, who dabbled in black magic.

I know that saying bad things about the Emperor (or any emperor from history) Just Isn't Done, but I guess it's OK to take liberties with the first of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

I really did enjoy it. And I managed to collect about 50 candidates for the top rotation.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 06:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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