Fun With Charts

Fun With Charts

Let's GIF out.

A new home!

On a personal note...

I've been looking for a new place to live for a few months now.  The search was getting a bit discouraging.  None of the places that were within my budget excited me.  This isn't a big deal in and of itself, but it made me feel like what I had was as good as I would get, and that is not a nice feeling.  See, when you feel that way, it isn't just one particular item in your life that is getting to you.  Rather, you tend to feel like your life itself is stuck in the mud and getting nowhere.

Well, I found a place yesterday and I can't believe my good fortune.  It is GORGEOUS.  I feel like I'm moving into Kensington Palace.  I can't wait to move!  It's like I'm back on track.

I promised myself when I turned 30 that there were certain goals that I would achieve in the near term. It was time to get serious and upgrade my life.  Well, here is one more of the big items checked off of the list.  It feels good.

Ummm, that is all!  The usual (trivial) posts will resume shortly.

My Road, My Journey

(Please forgive this amateurish translation of lyrics from a 20 year-old anime based on a 25 year-old game.  I'm just an old school Dragon Warrior II fanboy.)

I follow an unreachable dream
that I have carried all my life.
It stays with me along my road,
just as it was at the start.
I raise my eyes and I see another dawn, another light,
but still there is that familiar ache within my heart.

How many shoes I've worn through, I could never say.
As many, I suppose, as I have dreams.
Sometimes they get lost, dreams and shoes alike,
but I'll catch up with them someday.

My road, my journey, they have no end,
at least not that I can see.
Again we meet, again we part,
this is how it shall always be.
I fear I won't sleep well tonight for the loneliness I know.
Yet when I wake, I'll set out again, always toward tomorrow.

Aesthetics of Voltron

Gentle Reader,

 I still enjoy watching the 1980s cartoons that  I grew up with.  Some of them hold up remarkably well, despite  simplistic storytelling and rather two-dimensional characters.  Transformers and Jem impress me with the heart and care that went into their production, despite the fact that they feel dated today.  He-Man and She-Ra are amusing despite their over the top, hammy, outrageous voice acting.  G.I. Joe is an absolute treat, even on a more grown-up level (the Sunbow series, anyway).

I am sad to say, however, that Voltron is almost unwatchable.  This show was a Frankenstein mash-up of scattered pieces of various anime, and wow, does it show.  It's rife with non-sequitirs.  The dialogue often doesn't match what is happening on screen, at least not very well, and it just feels from start to finish like a cut and paste job.  It's a mess.

With that said, however...  I absolutely adore the visual aesthetic of Voltron.  I mean, wow, this is one gorgeous cartoon universe.  It features such eye candy as these exotic vistas...

As well as these adorable characters from both the good guy and bad guy teams...

And some inspired neo-classical character designs...

Not to mention the totally super-gorgeous and completely ass-kicking Princess Allura.

Because let's not kid ourselves.  If you grew up with Voltron, it doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl or gay or straight, it was always all about Allura.

Ever Yours,
Fauntleroy