Artificial Stupidity

[Guild Wars] War in Kryta

2010-04-14T23:42:00.000-05:00

I've been following the War in Kryta thing pretty closely. If you haven't, Guild Wars is celebrating their 5th anniversary with new content following the hostilities between the White Mantle and the Shining Blade. While digging through the Guild Wars .dat, I ran across something interesting. (Possible spoilers after the break.)

I think I found the skin to Princess Salma's crown.

New Generation V Pokémon announced.

2010-02-09T20:00:00.000-06:00

I'm gonna guess that it's a new evolution for the Riolu/Lucario line.

[Anime] New Anime (January 2010)

2010-01-21T18:52:00.002-06:00

What do an army tank platoon, vampires, underwear, a boarding school, an apartment building full of girls, and sword-less sword fighting all have in common? Each one is a new anime this year (2010) that I'm keeping track of.

So Ra No Wo To (AnimeSuki)

So Ra No Wo To (Sound of the Skies) is the story of the five army girls that make up Platoon 1121; Sergeant Major Rio Kazumiya, Lieutenant Felicia Heidemann, Corporal Noel Kannagi, Private Kureha Suminoya, and Private Kanata Sorami. The girls are stationed at a fortress near the small town of Seize and tasked with the upkeep of the fortress and watching the border for possible (and unlikely) attack.

Dance in the Vampire Bund (AnimeSuki)

Dance in the Vampire Bund is the story of the Mina Tepes, a descendant of Vlad and the ruler of vampires, who announces the existence of vampires and creates a district in Japan specifically for vampires. Many different groups are trying to assassinate her for this. She seems to know an amnesiac high school student named Akira. (Spoiler: Akira is revealed to be a werewolf who promised that he would protect Mina when they were little.)

Chu-Bra!! (AnimeSuki)

Chu-Bra!! is the story of a girl in middle school who is obsessed with underwear and wants to start an underwear club. This has caused various rumors to spread about her; one that she is a prostitute and another that she is a lesbian.

Ladies vs. Butlers (AnimeSuki)

Ladies vs. Butlers is the story of a boy named Akiharu who enters a boarding school, to get away from his uncle who only want to get his hands on Akiharu's inheritance. His delinquent appearance and his frequent bad luck in being mistaken for a pervert makes it hard to fit in with the other students.

Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu (AnimeSuki)

Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu is the slice-of-life stories of the students living at the Hidamari Apartments at Yamabuki High School. It's kind of like Azumanga Daiou and Lucky Star, only less funny.

Katanagatari (AnimeSuki)

A swordfight story taking place in Edo era (17th - 19th century). Yasuri Shichika is the seventh head of the Kyotou school of Japanese sword martial arts and lives in Fushou Island with his sister Nanami. With the order from a female samurai general Togame, he sets out for a trip to collect the twelve treasured swords created by a legendary swordsmith Shikizaki Kiki. (stolen from MAL)

[Anime] Mahoromatic Tadaima Okaeri - Part 2: The Welcoming Sky

2010-01-08T14:28:00.000-06:00

This is the second part of Mahoromatic Tadaima Okaeri.

Miyuki, Rin, Chizuko, and Shikijo-sensei meet up with Kiyomi and Toshiya at Café Trois. Meanwhile, Mahoro fights two giant robots on the roof of the school. Mahoro is obviously the strongest, but her uniform keeps tearing. Suguru takes an unconscious Minawa to safety. Mahoro manages to throw one of the robots into the other. The surviving robot transforms into a jet and flies off, but Mahoro summons Silpheed which enables her to fly. A few shots from Mahoro has the jet fly off course and into the villan’s airplane. Suguru is back up on the roof watching the overhead fight. Minawa wakes up and has a short conversation with an injured villian who calls himself Feldlance. Mahoro and Suguru return, but Feldlance sneaks away. Ryuuga-sensei and Slash come and offers to take care of the mess at school. They make a reference to Mahoro’s panties, which gets them a knock over the head.

The next day, the others arrive to find Mahoro, Minawa, and Suguru finishing up work on the café. The café appears to be rather successful. Miyuki takes Suguru out to ‘advertise’ the café. When they return, Rin goes out with Suguru at advertise, then Chizuko goes with Suguru. The Café is closed when they get back. Mahoro brings out a special cake that she has saved to celebrate. When she sets the cake down, her uniform rips apart. The girls give Mahoro an outfit they bought from the flea market next door.

The girls send Mahoro out with Suguru to see the festival. The girls take Minawa out to see the festival, leaving Toshiya and Kiyomi by themselves. Everyone seems to have fun. Later, Rin wonders what Suguru and Mahoro are doing. Manawa (accurately) thinks that everyone likes Suguru and that Suguru and Mahoro likes each other. Rin says that Suguru wasn’t as cheerful as he is now before Mahoro came. Mahoro and Suguru are listening to someone play the violin. Mahoro think that whoever it is, they must be a wonderful person. It ends up being Shikijo-sensei. After the fireworks start, the girls meet up with Toshiya and Kiyomi. Mahoro changes back into her original maid outfit before she and Suguru meets back up with the others.

This was a fairly enjoyable episode. The sci-fi feel of the robot fight in the first half and the slice-of-life feel of the second made this seem like two different animes spliced together, though.

[Anime] Mahoromatic Tadaima Okaeri - Part 1: The Welcoming Wind

2010-01-05T17:46:00.002-06:00

Mahoromatic Tadaima Okaeri is a two-part special set after the second episode of Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful.

Minawa and Mahoro attempt to wake up Suguru, but accidently discover the hiding place of Suguru's 'special' magazines. There is a brief recap explaining Mahoro's past as a combat android and the fact that she retired with only 370 days left until she ceases to function. (Tadaima Okaeri starts with 270 days remaining.) Mahoro is mad at Suguru, having written "I don't approve of dirty things." written in his breakfast.

Suguru's classmates come over with plans for a maid café to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the founding of Hiryu City. Suguru, Toshiya, and Kiyomi start building things for the café while Mahoro teaches the girls how to be maids. The next day, the girls make their own maid uniforms. Ms. Shikijo, Suguru's teacher who is constantly trying to seduce him, is representing the café.

After a ton of fanservice (everyone went to a hot springs), the girls give Mahoro and Minawa both specially-made uniforms. Afterwards, Suguru asks Mahoro to go to the fesitval with him. Everyone goes to the school to borrow some utensils from the home economics room. When leaving, Suguru notices that he left some back in the room. Minawa goes back for them, but gets attacked by robots. Mahoro senses something wrong and goes back just in time to save Minawa.

This was a fairly good episode overall. The only bad thing I could say about it is that the amount of fanservice in parts, particularly the excess amount of panty shots, tended to take away more from the show than they added.

[Internet] Take a hike, Chubbo!

2010-01-05T16:30:00.001-06:00

"Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded."

Apparently, the site kicked out around 5,000 members who gained a little weight over the holidays.

Read more here.

[Science] Moon Hole Colony

2010-01-01T16:29:00.000-06:00

A 213' wide by 260' deep hole was found on the moon. It could be used to house a moon colony. So Yeah...

[Videogames] Guild Wars Wintersday 2009 Hats

2009-12-31T19:59:00.002-06:00

GuildWiki.de has leaked the 2009 Wintersday hat design inventory icons. I couldn't find them in the .DAT, but I think I found their skins.

Snow Crystal Crest

Ice Shard Crest

(Edited @ 12:52 PST on 1/1/10: Added official names and wiki links.)

[Science] Super-Earth Found (12/16/09)

2009-12-31T11:19:00.001-06:00

I was sent this link two weeks ago, but I forgot about it until now. Apparently, scientists have found an earth-like planet, named GJ 1214b, about forty light-years away. Oddly enough, it was found with a normal sixteen inch telescope instead of a more powerful one.

Read more here at CNN's website.

[Television] Erik Gates of MythBusters Dies In Accident

2009-12-30T14:19:00.000-06:00

MythBusters' expert on rocketry died on Sunday after falling thirty feet through skylight. MythBusters has expressed their condolences on their official twitter account.

MythBusters clips after the jump.

Top 5 Most Awesome Mythbusters Clips

#5 Mythbusters - Surfing With Dynamite

#4 Mythbusters - Thermite vs Ice

#3 MythBusters - Diet Coke & Mentos

#2 The MythBusters blow up a cement truck!

#1 Mythbusters Rocket Car Pancake

[Videogames] Guild Wars Santa

2009-12-24T08:27:00.033-06:00

"I want a miniature polar bear!"

Ever wonder what build Santa Claus would use when playing Guild Wars? This is my interpretation.

Mo/R Nickoles Kringle

Attributes
· Protection Prayers 10 + 1 + 1
· Divine Favor 11 + 1
· Beast Mastery 10

Skills
(1) Shielding Hands
(2) Aegis
(3) Restore Condition
(4) Convert Hexes
(5) Otyugh's Cry
(6) Call of Protection
(7) Comfort Animal
(8) Resurrection Signet

Equipment
Candy Cane Wand & Gingerbread Focus

Pet
White Jingle Moa

[YouTube] "Family Guy" Top Ten with Stewie

2009-12-23T15:18:00.001-06:00

"Top Ten Things You Don't Want To Hear From Your Child" presented by Stewie.

[Manga] Pani Poni by Hikawa Hekiru

2009-12-20T11:19:00.006-06:00

Pani Poni is the story of an egotistical eleven year old girl named Rebecca Miyamoto who graduated from Columbia University at the age of ten. She becomes the homeroom teacher of class 1-C of Momotsuki Academy. The manga's story is very similar to Azumanga Daiou as it centers on an immature teacher and her wacky class, as well as having two other teachers and their classes as supporting characters.

(Pani Poni is a joint scanslation project by The Wafflehouse and Eternal Bunny Love.)

[Videogames] Guild Wars 2 - "Giving Tyria a Voice"

2009-12-18T00:35:00.009-06:00

Guild Wars has a history of getting some great voice actors for their characters (Steve Blum, Kari Wahlgren, Maurice LaMarche), but the addition of Felicia Day as Zojja just secured a lot of sales to fanboys.

[Anime] Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu

2009-12-17T16:24:00.003-06:00

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is being made into a movie.

[Comic] It's sad because it's true.

2009-12-17T08:59:00.004-06:00

It started back in Christmas of 2000 when I was stocking for Dollar Tree and it's been the same every year. I'll hear it on the radio and it'll be stuck in my head until mid-January.

[Software] I just installed bittorrent. Now I can download pr0n anime.

2009-12-16T16:33:00.007-06:00

I haven't used BitTorrent since well before I bought this computer a little less than a year ago, so I decided to install it. I have to admit that I am impressed with the enhancements to the user interface. There doesn't seem to be anything new since the last time I used it, though. Now maybe I can catch up on the newer animes that don't involve shinigami or fox-ninjas.

[Manga] [NSFW] Boin Tantei vs. Kaitou Sanmensou by Doi Sakazaki

2009-12-16T11:32:00.008-06:00

Boin Tantei vs. Kaitou Sanmensou (Detective Jiggles vs. The Three-faced Thief) is a oneshot story about a new employee at a detective agency. Her lesbian boss dresses her up as a maid, giving her the nickname 'Detective Jiggles.' They set off to defuse a bomb set by the Three-faced Thief to blow up a famous diamond. To get to the bomb, 'Jiggles' has to get past several traps that appear to be designed by a pervert.

Spoiler: The bomb ends up going off and killing them all in the end.

(Boin Tantei vs. Kaitou Sanmensou is scanslated by [XLG].)

[Manga] Akagami no Shirayukihime by Akizuki Sorata

2009-12-15T13:07:00.016-06:00

Akagami no Shirayukihime (The Red-haired Snow White Princess) is the story of a red-haired girl named Shirayuki who is selected by Prince Raji to be his new concubine. Having no say in the matter, Shirayuki cuts her hair and runs away. Later, at an abandoned house, she meets Mitsuhide, Kiki, and the sword-wielding Zen. When Zen eats a poisoned apple sent from Prince Raji intended for Shirayuki, it seems that the only way to save Zen is for Shirayuki to consent to be Prince Raji's concubine. But there is more to Zen than it appears.

Spoiler: Zen is actually a prince from a neighboring kingdom. He ends up saving Shirayuki from Raji.

(Akagami no Shirayukihime is currently being scanslated by Aerandria.)