kate

There’s never been a better time to be a Sailor Moon fan than right now. With the release of Sailor Moon Crystal, there’s just so many cute and adorable Sailor Moon tie-in goodies up for grabs. And most of it’s really good stuff, too!

But with good stuff comes a hefty price tag, as we discovered when we got all excited about these Sailor Moon sweet dessert-inspired necklaces, rings and trinkets, only to discover that all that cuteness doesn’t come cheap…

The new jewellery range is a collaboration between Sailor Moon and Q-pot, a specialist maker of accessories shaped to look exactly like delicious sweets. The range includes eight items which are set to go on sale on June 30 (which fans will know as Usagi’s birthday!). Let’s take a look at what’s on offer!

First up, we have this adorable Crystal Star Macaron necklace for 15,000 yen (US$124) and keyring for 13,000, ($108) followed by the Starry Night Macaron necklace at 11,000 yen ($91) and bag charm for 8,000 yen ($66). The Moon Phase Pocket Watch necklace, meanwhile, will set you back 28,000 yen ($232), and the Sailor Moon Biscuit necklace will gobble up 21,000 yen ($174) of your hard-earned moolah. The Sailor Ribbon Cup Cake necklaces are all 11,000 yen ($91) each.

Rounding up the range, we have the Sailor Jewel Candy rings for 17,000 yen ($141), and the Sailor Jewel Whip bangles for 12,500 yen ($103). Each piece of jewellery comes in one of these cute Special Package boxes!

As you can see, these super-cute accessories are a little beyond the means of your average teenager’s budget. We suspect that, like a lot of the Sailor Moon merchandise around these days, this stuff’s meant for grown women who’ve been watching the series since their own childhoods and probably now have the disposable income to drop a couple of hundred bucks on some shiny, brightly coloured baubles. Because what else is being an adult good for, if not spending money on frivolous trinkets designed to bring us back to our own golden childhoods?

Source/images: Nijimen

Origin: Sweet Sailor Moon jewellery makes our souls yearn, wallets weep
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Some cameos from “Shirobako” japanese animated series, with Hideaki Anno (Evangelion), Ichiro Itano (Mr Itano Circus), Hiromasa Ogura (background artist), Masao Maruyama (president of MAPPA), Masahiko Minami (president of BONES), Mitsuhisa Ishikawa (president of Production I.G), Seiji Mizushima (Fullmetal Alchemist director), Naoyuki Onda (Berserk character-designer), Takeshi Nogami (mangaka of Girls und Panzer), Takashi Ikehata (director of Genshiken).

Supermodel and cookie business-owner Karlie Kloss has her sights set on a new passion: coding. A year ago, she learned to code with the Flatiron School, and in December she took part in Code.org’s Hour of Code campaign for Computer Science Education Week. 

Now, she’s giving the educational experience to 20 other girls, partnering with Flatiron School on the Kode with Karlie Scholarship. The scholarship will give 20 girls across the country free tuition to Flatiron’s Introduction to Software Engineering course. It’s a two-week summer program, available to girls ages 13 to 18.

“Coding is a form of self-expression. It’s a way to turn a cool, innovative idea into a product, website, app, tool, or experience,” Kloss explains in a video introducing the scholarship. “I think it’s crucial that young women learn to code as early as possible to ensure that we have a voice and a stake in what the world looks like.”

Learn more and apply here, then explore more opportunities in the world of code, with Girls Who Code and Reshma Saujani:

Sometimes you have to gamble. Sometimes you have to deny that you’re at a dead-end in life and push through. Sometimes you know you’re good at something and just want people to recognize it, and maybe pay you for it, too.

Read more...

For those who haven't made peace with Chipotle's "Sorry No Carnitas" signs at hundreds of stores, this isn't good news: "We don't know for sure when we'll be fully supplied again," spokesman Chris Arnold tells Bloomberg.

The company says that it's quite hard to find food suppliers that meets its high standards, and now that it's had to jettison one supplier, Chipotle is having trouble finding a replacement. "There are no quick fixes for it," Arnold noted.

And as Bloomberg points out, the push by McDonald's and other competitors to source humanely raised, antibiotics-free meat means there's that much less of it to go around, so Chipotle's admirably high standards could be what bites its bottom line.

[Bloomberg, CBS]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: shortages, carnitas, chipotle, news, the chain gang

It’s time for our annual look at some of the comics coming out for this weekend’s MoCCA Festival, being held this year at Center 548, is located at 548 W. 22nd Street, just off the Westside Highway, with programming at the High Line Hotel on West 20th Street and 10th Avenue.

And here’s the books we got information on. This is just a teeny tiny smattering of the new stuff available — but scroll down for signings from Fantagraphics, NBM and more. And scroll around Tumblr for more more more, especially the MoCCA Festival tumblr.

Jeremy Nguyen:

I’m debuting a 20 page collection of my webcomic “Stranger Than Bushwick”, which is currently being serialized on Bushwick Daily. This collection explores a lot of New York by way of Brooklyn, millennial lifestyles, and hot-button issues like catcalling and gentrification.

cosmicotton:

Fin.

nozakis eyes

For centuries, Christianity has had a role in the creation of some of the finest works of art. Any comprehensive discussion of art history has to include Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, and a host of other important paintings and sculptures from artists who don’t share their names with one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Speaking of comics, there’s a new manga that’s just started in Japan. Looking at its earnest, wholesome heroine, you might get the impression that it’s like any of a hundred other series the country has produced, but this manga lead has something that makes her unique: she’s the literal embodiment of Puritan Christianity.

The vast majority of Japan’s population is pretty non-religious as far as day-to-day life is concerned. Most people, though, if pressed for an answer, would describe their faith as a mixture of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs, which is why it’s perfectly ordinary to have your wedding in a Shinto shrine but be buried in a Buddhist temple.

Japan does have a devout Christian community, though, which is sizable enough to warrant at least one weekly Christian newspaper. Called Christ Weekly, or Christ Shimbun in Japanese, the paper is published every Saturday, and has been informing readers on religious news for almost 70 years.

Its long history doesn’t mean the paper isn’t interested in trying anything new, though. That’s why in the April 4 edition of the Christ Weekly this young lady made her debut.

【教派擬人化マンガ「ピューリたん」】画像公開。ピューリたん（清教徒）。マンガの主人公。おさげ髪が似合うピュアな女の子。「よろしくねっ！！」 http://t.co/ATQC3be3wy

—
キリスト新聞 (@christweekly) March 23, 2015

Say hello to Pyuri-tan, whose name is a nod to the –tan suffix attached to the names of beloved anime characters (-tan being an even more saccharine version of the already affectionate –chan suffix). Of course, Pyuri-tan, who’s a junior high student, is pronounced just like “Puritan,” and she seems to look the part, with her sensible attire and modest hairstyle.

Pyuri-tan isn’t the only anthropomorphized denomination that will be showing up in the four-panel slice-of-life series. For example, in the strip on the left, we see her hanging out with her older brother, Protestant Reformist.

▼ We’re going to guess his friends call him Marty, or maybe Cal.

【教派擬人化マンガ「ピューリたん」】第１回はピューリたんの自己紹介。そして「お兄ちゃん」の登場回。発行は4/4（4/11付）です。お楽しみに！！ http://t.co/nNKUCkXXqV

—
キリスト新聞 (@christweekly) April 02, 2015

However, Pyuri-tan’s comic strip won’t be featured in every edition of the paper, only the second and fourth volumes of each month. Even when she’s not around, though, there’s still a bit of manga-style appeal, in the form of the logo to the series of clergy-penned essays titled Kyokaiger (from Kyokai Ranger, or “Church Rangers”).

【伝道宣隊キョウカイジャー】現役牧師ら５人による「ぶっちゃけ」リレーエッセイが１周年。新キャラ「ゴールド」「総督」の参戦でますますパワーアップ！ キョウカイジャーが読めるのは「キリスト新聞」だけ。 http://t.co/JSBfCgH5tT

—
キリスト新聞 (@christweekly) April 05, 2015

Even in an era where just about everything gets anthropomorphized, Pyuri-tan is standing out from the crowd. Religion doesn’t tend to have a major role in Japanese media, and as such, the character is attracting attention and comments online.

“She’s cute!”
“You shouldn’t make light of others’ religious beliefs!”
“This is a problem waiting to happen…”
“I’m kind of digging this!”
“I think I’m gonna convert.”

Now we’re wondering, if Puri-tan’s popularity takes off, will we one day see her in a crossover with the manga Jesus and Buddha of Saint Young Men? Only time will tell.

Related: Christ Weekly
Source: Kai-You
Top image: Twitter

Origin: Meet Pyuri-tan, the new manga heroine who’s the literal embodiment of Puritan Christianity
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Out of the many magical artifacts Sailor Moon comes across during the course of her adventures, few can match the power of the Illusory Silver Crystal. Maybe that’s why when merchandiser Bandai offers some new anime trinket that includes the gem, it seemingly feels that the replica Silver Crystal also needs to have some sort of innate power.

Previously, fans could use the Illusory Silver Crystal to keep their homes smelling nice. Now, the crystal that helped Queen Serenity maintain order in the Moon Kingdom will help you maintain order on your desk, with this Rainbow Moon Chalice Sailor Moon paper clip case.

Alternatively referred to as both the Holy Grail and Purity Chalice, the new Rainbow Moon Chalice comes from a team up between Bandai and stationary goods company Sun Star Stationary. Standing 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) tall, the chalice weighs in at 350 grams (12.3 ounces) due to its zinc alloy construction and glass beads in the image colors of the Sailor Senshi.

Flip open the lid, and you’ll find the Illusory Siler Crystal, also fashioned from glass, waiting for you inside.

The base the crystal is set in is also hinged. Underneath is yet another compartment, this one containing a dozen metallic paper clips shaped like crescent moons and stars.

▼ Both the chalice’s outer and inner surfaces come covered in reflective enamel.

As we mentioned above, though, the Illusory Silver Crystal is here to do more than just look pretty. It’s functional, as the magnet hidden inside it means you can attach the clips to the crystal itself.

The Rainbow Moon Chalice clip case can be ordered here through the Premium Bandai website for 8,640 yen (US$73). The item is scheduled to ship in August, boxed in a package where it sits atop an appropriately regal satin cushion.

Source, images: Premium Bandai

Origin: Sailor Moon Silver Crystal magnet paper clip chalice helps maintain order in Moon Kingdom, desks
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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• The Holy Grail of Sailor Moon merchandise will help your room smell as nice as Princess Serenity
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• Sailor Moon, Outer Senshi are ready to watch over your phone with earphone jack accessories
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Lego can be used to build almost anything, although few people think to turn those bricks into action figures. But that's probably soon going to change now that umamen has crafted this incredibly-detailed and articulated eight-inch Stormtrooper figure that even includes a swappable head revealing a brick version of Han Solo underneath that helmet. Perfect. [Flickr via The Brothers Brick]

Read more...

You can say a lot of bad things about Battle of the Five Armies, but its glorious shots of the Dwarven Kingdom of Erebor in the Misty Mountains were definitely a treat. It looks just as amazing when remade in Lego, on a truly massive scale — something that took Michał Kaźmierczak 7 months of building to do!

Read more...

Girl Scout Cookie season is almost over, which, unless you're content eating knockoff Tagalongs and Coconut Dreams, marks the start of hoarding season. Luckily, Good Humor has created a Girl Scout–sanctioned ice-cream version to carry you through the summer months. People have long been freezing Thin Mints, of course, but these new bars go one step further: There's creamy chocolate-mint ice cream inside a dark-chocolate shell.

Today sampled the dessert last month and called it "perfection," and now it will finally be available in stores nationwide. It's only a matter of time before an enterprising Girl Scout commandeers her neighborhood Mister Softee and sells a bazillion boxes.

[Brand Eating]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: we all scream, girl scout cookies, girl scouts, good humor, thin mints

Now that the Big Mac is up against the ShackBurger and an army of other affordable, high-quality competitors, McDonald's is feeling the pain — so it's reintroducing its sirloin burgers. The "Angus Third Pound" line rolls out later this month, with three varieties that cost $5 each. These patties will be the largest on the menu since 2013, which was the last time they appeared, and at the time, customers complained they were too expensive.

The three varieties include a no-frills version called Lettuce & Tomato, another with bacon and cheese, and then the Steakhouse, the line's showstopper that piles on grilled mushrooms, grilled onions, white Cheddar, and a peppercorn sauce. All three have a mystery ingredient called "beef seasoning" that might undercut the line's higher-quality perception — it sure doesn't sound appealing. Also, to make the burgers seem even more fancy, it looks like they're being served on wood boards:

THANKS @mcdonalds in #Morgantown for lunch! The new Sirloin Third Pound Burger is Delish! 👌🍔🍟 [Pictured: #Steakhouse] pic.twitter.com/jbZWQpPQec

— WVAQ (@WVAQ) April 6, 2015

[AP, Time]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: the chain gang, burgers, mcdonald's, sirloin third pound

How much more water does it take to produce an ounce of bread, than a ounce of juice? The answer is not quite what you might expect.

Read more...

This is something new for 2015. We’ve decided to starting highlighting each anime season with a mini-version of our end of the year awards. We hope this helps cap-off the season with a splash (and helps us remember all of great things by the time the end of the year rolls around). So without further ado, our picks for the best of winter 2015 . . .

Best of the Best

SHIROBAKO from P.A. Works It takes a special show to warm the hearts of the bitter and jaded in the Anitwitter community. Shirobako was the show that actually had a lot of people actually tuning in week after week to watch a show out of legitimate excitement and joy as opposed to spite and obligation. That alone makes it stand out from the pack.

The reason Shirobako was able to do that was because it infectious with it love for the creation of animation. You can’t watch the show and help but appreciate the hard work that goes into making anime. But it is not all sunshine and puppies. They throw in enough real life BS and petty politics so that is not just rose-colored view of industry. At the same time it keeps from falling into the pits of despair so it is not a black comedy. I’m sure there would be an audience for a savage parody of the anime industry (sort of like the Mellow Maromi episode of Paranoia Agent) but I enjoyed this mixture of realism and wish-fulfillment. It has just the right proportions of frustration and triumph to make you empathize with the people making the shows you watch every week.

Any show that enhances all the other shows you watch has to be praised for its accomplishments.

 Death Parade from MADHOUSE Welcome to Quindecim. A bar where the dead are confronted with their pasts and judged, then sent for reincarnation or into the void.

I was a huge fan of the original OVA Death Billiards, but was wary of them taking the concept and expanding if only because I didn’t want the mystique to be lost. Because of my original trepidation, I think I found Death Parade doubly impressive because it never lost what made the original great.

But it did add more layers such as what arbiters are, Decim’s particular quirks, and exactly why Chiyuki is there as an assistant. It added them and then satisfied me with their answers and endings.

Best Character

Emma Guzman from Garo: The Animation In general anime is medium that is filled with young people. The stereotypical anime cast is made up of teenagers with a few older characters mostly being in the background. So anytime we see a woman who is a bad ass widow as a main character it is something worth praising.

Emma is hyper competent and cool. While she is not a Makai Knights her alchemist abilities are quite powerful and she often holds her own with the male members of the cast. The fact that she is instrumental in every fight she participates in is praiseworthy.She was more of a fighter who had a different style than the rest of the cast as opposed to a mere support character.

She also has a decently well realized sense of sexuality. It is one thing to have a sexy older woman. They are not uncommon. It is another thing to make her sexually active in a way that promotes her in such a firmly empowered way. It is far too easy to make her hyper sexual for titillation but that was not going on here. It is merely a lightly touched upon aspect of her being.  It is neither played for laughs or something that overwhelms her characters other traits.

She is definitely a good character to look at if you want an example of how to do older female character correctly.

 Fumina Hoshino from Gundam Build Fighters Try The instigator, the captain, the glue which holds team Try Fighters together. I was so pleased to see her evolve over the course of the show alongside her teammates, especially in the building of her Gunpla. In the end, she wa able to see her personal battle through to the end while also making a heroic sacrifice typical of heroes.

I hardly need to write more about her though considering we did a whole post about her fantasticness.

P.S. I definitely endorse Al’s choice of Emma!

Best Finale

Yurikuma Arashi from Silver Link I saw some people complain that the ending to Yurikuma Arashi was pretty much a just standard Kunihiko Ikuhara ending. That is like complaining that your desert is just a big piece of delicious tiramisu. I guess if that is not to your tastes then you as disappointed but I got exactly what I wanted.

I feel like with Revolutionary Girl Utena and Penguindrum I was right on board from the start. Yurikuma Arashi had me a little worried. I saw that there was a good deal of potential in the themes and symbolism he was laying down but the crazy levels of fan service planted some doubts. Did Ikuhara just sell out to the dark side of the force? As the series went on it was clear that he had more meaning hidden beneath the surface just like his previous shows. By the end I can’t say I had deciphered everything but his primary message came through loud and clear.

He ends a little but ambiguous but always satisfyingly strong. When you see the blossoming love between the pigtailed laser operator and her undead cyborg bear you know things are going to be all right.

 Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road from TMS It was a long, arduous race with the 3rd day being so eventful that it lasted an entire season. When that journey came to a close I felt my heart swell with pride and with that bit of melancholy that accompanies the end of a story.

How does one say goodbye? Yowamushi Pedal did it surprisingly well with perhaps the most perfect send off from Onoda that one could have.

Best Surprise of the Season

Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road Final I think the people who fought it out in the last leg of the Inter High surprised me a great deal. If you asked me at the start of the season who I thought would be still standing in the last mile of the race there were certain characters I was 100% sure to be involved that dropped out for one reason or another. I just assumed they would go the distance. It was clearly foreshadowed that members of all the main teams would not be able to complete the race. That was a given. But how it all went down caught me off guard.

That was a pleasant surprise overall.

 Durarara!! Starts Becoming Baccano! Obviously the writer has certain quirks and personalities that he likes to play with, but I didn’t really imagine the residents of Ikebukuro as coming closer to the mob trappings of Baccano! and yet here we are.

Best Couple (Real or Imagined)

Decim and Chiyuki from Death Parade We usually pick characters here for shipping purposes. Who do we think has a great sexual chemistry? The thing is I’m not even sure if sex is something that Decim could personally care about. So in that regard they are a poor choice. But their emotional connection is unparalleled.

At first Decim and Chiyuki are just coworkers at the at Quindecim bar presiding over the judgment of souls. As the series goes on as both of them learn more about what Chiyuki’s role is they forge an intense connection that clearly changes both of them. By the end of the series they have a bond that is clearly more than a friendship.

They are probably one of the more memorable couples I have seen in a while. If you don’t get a little choked up by the last episode I might be a little worried about you.

 Endou and Segawa from SHIROBAKO I don’t even know why I like them so much, it is like instinct or something. I guess I just like that she clearly intimidates him.

Best Laugh Out Loud Moment

Yurikuma Arashi “Shaba-da-doo” This was a simple pick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nnGfhVN5MA

 Midousuji from Yowamushi Pedal GROSS.

Best Opening

The Rolling Girls “Hito ni Yasashiku” by The Rolling Girls If Rolling Girls got one piece of near universal praise it was for its visuals. They really stand out with a colorful and energetic panache. The opening to the show highlights that perfectly. The song really captures the upbeat road trip nature of the show with a bit of its rock and roll sensibilities. In many ways it is all that is best and brightest about the show.

 Death Parade “Flyers” by BRADIO Best and “most incongruous with its actual content” opening. It was as if this opening was there to put you in a great mood only to push you over a cliff.

Best Ending

 SHIROBAKO “Platinum Jet” by Donut◎Quintet It makes sense. The show that is all about making anime should have an ending that is the same exact thing. The credits show how much work goes into even the simplest still frame at the end of an episode. Every week the ending was changed and it showed another of the four girls being added to the picture as she goes from being just some concept art to a fully rendered character.  Just another case of something seeming very simple but actually be far more work than most people would ever realize.

Plus I think Kate probably appreciated that those dolls were no longer the focus of the ending. I know I did.

 Durarara!!x2 Shou “NEVER SAY NEVER” by THREE LIGHTS DOWN KINGS A continuation of the second ending to the first series, this highlights how everyone is connected in the story.

mind-of-candy-floss:

b-ak3d:

setbabiesonfire:

impala-sonic-deductions:

vivere-est-ars:

every woman on tumblr should have this on their dash

And every man

Look how nobody’s yelling or arguing or making things into a competition. Look how this is to straight up educate people through a different perspective. Look how effective that makes the message.

The last one really hit me. I never really thought about something like that could actually impact a woman’s life. Damn…

love that post with all my heart

Some of anime’s most memorable scenes and settings would be impossible, or at least prohibitively expensive, to recreate in real life. As exciting as it would be for fans, no one’s actually going to send Evangelion’s Spear of Longinus to the moon, or construct a city-circling 50-meter (164-foot) protective wall from Attack on Titan.

But as impractical as those scenarios would be, the burgeoning slice-of-life genre is filled with locations that can be reproduced in minute detail, such as this Tokyo cosplay studio where you can snap photos in the home office in which much of anime Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun takes place.

The Haco Stadium cosplay complex has two major branches, one in Osaka and the other listed as “Tokyo,” although the latter is actually just over the border in Chiba Prefecture. Both have multiple floors filled with a wide variety of real-world and fantasy backdrops for taking cosplay photos, but as of this month, only Haco Stadium Tokyo has a special Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun room.

The anime, adapted from creator Izumi Tsubaki’s manga, is centered around Chiyo Sakura and Umetaro Nozaki, two teens who attend the same high school. Sakura has a crush on Nozaki, and in trying to get closer to him, ends up assisting him in his secret job as a girls’ manga artist. The production team for Let’s Fall in Love, the in-series manga Nozaki writes, regularly gathers in the teen artist’s home to do their work.

As you can see, Tsubaki kept her design for the room firmly rooted in reality. Not only does this make the setting easy for readers to relate to, it makes it easy to recreate, which is just what Haco Stadium has done.

As with all of Haco Stadium’s themed rooms, attendants can pose for pictures after making use of the facility’s dressing rooms. Unfortunately, Haco Stadium doesn’t provide costumes, but considering that the cast of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is usually seen in such mundane things as dress shirts, blazers, and pleated skirts, it shouldn’t be too hard to throw your own costume together. Alternatively, since you’re supplying your own threads, you’re also free to dress up as characters from any other series for a little crossover photo shoot.

In addition to having the same furniture and layout as in the anime, you’ll also find other little nods to the series in the provided props, which include back issues of Monthly Girls’ Romance, the fictional comic anthology in which Let’s Fall in Love is published.

In addition, there’re manga-making art supplies strewn about the room, in case you want to step into the shoes of Nozaki and staff by pretending to struggle with the ins and outs of comic production.

▼ And also a prop PlayStation 3 if you want to pantomime blowing them off

Haco Stadium Tokyo’s Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun room is available from now until June 30.

Related: Haco Stadium Tokyo
Source: Comic Natalie
Top image: Haco Stadium Tokyo
Insert images: The Fandom Post, Haco Stadium Tokyo

Origin: Step right into an anime scene at cosplay studio’s exact recreation of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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While McDonald's continues to struggle with its benefits, Starbucks has announced that its baristas can now go to college completely on the company's dime.

It's expanding the Starbucks College Achievement Plan that it rolled out last summer, through Arizona State University's online degree program. The initiative will now cover four years of tuition instead of just two. The upgrade also eliminates two other obstacles: a requirement that employees already be juniors or seniors to qualify, and the lengthy wait for tuition reimbursement.

Starbucks originally imagined "thousands" of its U.S. employees (there are 144,000 total) would enroll in the program, which received a big endorsement from Education Secretary Arne Duncan, but it looks like so far, only a little under 2,000 have signed up. With one recent failed initiative under its belt, Starbucks is throwing a lot more money behind this one — $250 million, or more if necessary — which it believes will be enough to get 25,000 employees their degrees over the next decade.

[USAT]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: the chain gang, college tuition, employee benefits, starbucks

trows:

ace-of-blue-spades:

ayellowbirds:

That time Jesus was mistaken for Yakuza.

I have seriously got to find this show.

Happy easter courtesy saint young men!

We’re all red on the inside. And we ALL HAVE LAWN CRAYFISH.

Also on Tapastic!

Have you been watching The Rolling Girls? So far, it’s one of my top 3 shows of the Winter 2015 anime season. I’m planning a larger write-up for the series, but for now I wanted to point out a small reference in Episode 4 of the show.

Episodes 3 and 4 take place in an area named “Always Comima,” a land that is a perpetual Comic Market doujinshi festival. At one point, the girls end up at a house in Always Comima, whose owner once met one of the girls, Kosaka Yukina, who gave her gratitude by drawing a portrait of their family. You might have noticed that the portrait looks somewhat…peculiar.

The style used in the portrait is actually a reference to a manga artist named Jigoku no Misawa, or Misawa of Hell. Having gained popularity among 2ch users, Misawa is mainly known for his bizarre one-panel comics depicting silly-looking characters trying to act cool.

While his claim to fame is like some Bizarro version of Family Circus, Misawa’s actuall had a few manga long-form published in Jump SQ by Shueisha, the same company that puts out Shounen Jump. I’ve only read Kakko Kawaii Sengen! (“Cool-Cute Proclamation”), which features a girl who is known for being clumsy and popular with the boys, while still looking like this:

Kakko Kawaii Sengen has actually received an animated adaptation, and some merchandise to go along with it.

If you’re interested in checking out Misawa of Hell’s stuff and you have a smart device, then you’re in luck. His series, The Great Phrases Women Fall for, is currently available translated into English on the Manga Box app.

iOS

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Feed the meter, feed the homeless in new program in Indianapolis.

      

 

 

When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) officially kicked off his presidential campaign more than a week ago, the media heralded it as the official start of the 2016 race. But the presidential field is actually pretty crowded already: Nearly 200 presidential wannabes have registered with the Federal Election Commission. Below, meet some of the people who could (but probably won't) give the mainstream candidates a run for their money.

Harley Brown

Harley Brown, badass biker (Republican): "I've got a master's degree in raising hell," Brown thundered during last year's Idaho Republican gubernatorial debate, where he dressed in black leather and proclaimed himself "the proverbial turd in the punch bowl." He also confided that he'd gotten the presidential seal tattooed on his shoulder after God told him he was destined to hold the nation's highest office. He already has a reality TV crew following his campaign.

President Princess Khadijah M. Jacob-Fambro, rap enthusiast (Revolutionary Party): Yep, that's the title and name on the San Francisco resident's candidacy form, which doubles as a proposal to Lil Wayne. "FROM ONE ALIEN TO ANOTHER ALIEN. 'LIL WAYNE'… WILL YOU MARRY ME? I AM GOD!!! :)," Jacob-Fambro writes in the section for designating her campaign committee. In case you couldn't tell from the all caps, she's a particularly enthusiastic candidate—she filed to run on October 31, 2012, before the last election cycle had even ended.

David Jon Sponheim

David Jon Sponheim, bitter UCLA alum (America's Third Party): Sponheim's platform includes some rather, er, ambitious engineering projects, like building a seawater pipeline to irrigate Southern California and constructing a transcontinental levitating rail system. He matriculated at UCLA, which, he notes, "was not his first choice." He blames affirmative action for his failure to get into a better school, and adds that the communist leanings of UCLA's political science department turned him off completely from higher education, so he dropped out and went to work for an organic farm instead.

Josue Larose, super-PAC man (Republican): No candidate has generated as much paperwork for the Florida Division of Elections as Larose. Since 2009, the self-professed fat cat from Treasure Coast has created at least 60 super-PACs, including Billionaire Josue Larose's Female Catholic Priests Committee, Billionaire Josue Larose's Misses of Beauty Committee, and the Florida Intellectual Elites Political Committee. He's also founded 41 political parties, including the America Bourgeoisie Political Party, whose bylaws require it to give Larose a limousine.

Terry Jones, french-fry-slinging pastor and Islamophobe (unaffilated): This is the same Jones who made headlines a few years ago when he called for Americans to burn copies of the Koran on September 11. So it's no surprise that his campaign site asks for donations "as we take a stand against the rise of radical Islam and the spread of sharia here in America!" As of January, he was running a french-fry stand at a mall.

Joshua David Usera, ninja (independent): Rapid City, South Dakota, might not strike you as a base of operations for feudal Japanese secret agents. But it's home to Usera, a mixed-martial-arts fighter and the author of UR My Destiny…A True 'Ninja's' Story. "I'm not good at anything other than martial arts," the candidate, who is running as an independent, admitted on an interview podcast. "If you want to succeed in anything similar to martial arts, come to me."

Michael Steinberg

Michael Steinberg, lawyer/naughty bagel purveyor (Democrat): Oppo researchers looking for dirt on Steinberg, a Democratic disability lawyer from Florida, need look no father than his website, which describes the most notable skeleton in his closet: "About 20 years ago I, along with some friends, thought it would be funny to open a bagel store where the waitresses would wear lingerie outfits." But he seems to have learned his lesson. "Needless to say," he writes, "that wasn't such a great idea."

If you've seen any photos of the current California drought, you've probably seen some variation on these striking before-and-after images of this bridge near Lake Oroville:

California Department of Water Resources

Seeing those images popping up everywhere has been a little weird for me since that bridge used to be named after my grandfather. 

My grandfather, B. Abbott Goldberg, was the deputy director of California's Department of Water Resources from 1961 to 1966. He was one of the legal architects of Gov. Pat Brown's California Water Project, the massive, contentious undertaking that built the infrastructure that currently supplies 25 million people and 1 million acres of farmland. He argued and won two Supreme Court cases, the details of which are mind-numbingly arcane. But they were essential to realizing Brown's vision for mastering the natural resource that he saw as essential to the state's survival.

Winning the West's water, my grandfather explained in a University of California oral history project, was almost a religious mission. His colleagues, he said, "had come up and they had transmitted to me, certainly, the tradition of the Old West, that water is the limiting resource and that by bringing water to the thirsty land, you were in effect doing the Lord's work and that there was nothing more important for the people of California than providing an adequate water supply."

He was proud of his work, whose effectiveness was evident in Californians' unquestioning expectation of plentiful, cheap water. When the state went through the big drought of 1976-77, he noted, "There wasn't a murmur about a shortage of domestic water in Southern California…I didn't find anybody beating the doors down to thank us for what had been done. The fact that it took some forty years to achieve it was just forgotten." Later in his life, he read Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner's critique of the growth-at-all-costs mentality embodied in the Water Project. He wasn't a fan.

Not that he couldn't see the other side. In his oral history interview, conducted in 1979, my grandfather admitted to some conflicted views about California's relationship with water. Sounding like a good Northern Californian, he mused, "Someplace along the line, the idea began to dawn on me that really Southern California was an environment essentially hostile to human occupation…[B]ut what are you going to do about the millions of people already down there?" And: "I do remember saying to someone that really, the only solution to the water problem was birth control."

He even indulged the what-if question that every thinking Californian asks once they've been here long enough: "I sometimes wonder, maybe it would have been better to let California dry up and blow away, and keep it the way we used to know it."

Which brings us back to the bridge, another symbol of Californians' ambition and ambivalence. After the state named it after my grandfather in the late '60s, local lawmakers objected, insisting it be renamed the Enterprise Bridge, after a town of the same name that had been inundated by Oroville Dam—one of the signature features of the California Water Project.