Yep, I went there, Ponies. Don’t worry, I’m not going to talk about how cute Fluttershy is, nor am I going to discuss my views on politics and religion in Equestria (that is a subject for another post I’m keeping in my pocket to put up during sick days). I am going to discuss finding my ‘equal’. In other words, I’m going to talk about, what I, as a man, desire in a wife. This is my absolute favorite pony picture, so far anyway.

First, if you are so inclined, I would like you to read: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/4133/Letters-from-Canterlot

It’s a well written story, in fact, there is very little that define it as ‘pony’, beyond the characters. If you read it, you will find romance, intrigue and a host of other things. The plot: The businesspony, Fancy Pants has finally arrived on the Canterlot business scene and is making a splash. He makes great early success, as well as several rivals. He is betrayed by the mare he loved, then his business takes a great hit due to her using his secrets against him. He later pulls himself together after meeting Fleur De Lis, another businesspony and rival to Fancy Pants. Fancy Pants saves her from disgrace and they begin working together, eventually marrying. Lastly, Fancy Pants, Fleur and several of their allies prevent one final attempt by the pair’s enemies to permanently disgrace them, becoming the core of a vibrant new elite.

One of the things that made me think was that Fancy Pants didn’t ‘fall in love’ in some whirlwind romance, with Fleur. Rather, she was his equal and more than business rival. She was that worthy opponent one could fight. Unlike Lavender Rose (one of his rivals) or Silver Snake (a villainous blackmailer from Fleur’s past), Fleur could play on the same field, by the same rules. This is something I can appreciate. Another aspect was that Fancy Pants is a CONSUMATE Gentleman (pony). I can appreciate a gentlman, pony or otherwise. It is my ultimate goal to be a gentleman. However, I am not entirely sure that I can achieve this lofty goal. I want, I DREAM of having that title. That worthy mention that means that I’m worth talking to because of my honor and education.

One of the things I constantly struggle with is that I don’t really have an equal. What I mean by that is that very few combine the multitude of things that make me up. My good friend, Ash, is entirely my better at most internet things, anime, manga and a small host of other things. My sister is my superior at biology and has better official training in Biblical matters. My Father is one of the greatest masters of computer and Bible (combined) that lives. My friend Shaka is actually completing a novel, something I envy. I find all these people around me to be, at some point have greater skills than I do, but they do not have skills I also have. I cannot, for example discuss the significance of the causes of the Populist Party with many people. My father could possibly discuss, but everyone else seems to be more of a different thing, which is good and challenging, but I have yet to find a proper EQUAL.

I’m not looking for some narcissistic fem-Xewleer. I’m looking for someone who is something more. A pretty face is lovely, but what about something that can improve me and I can be the same. I think, however, that I am not ready. Not that I’m comparing myself to a fictional pony. I’m really trying to teach myself gentility and various manners and Chivalry. I think I’m old fashioned, but I don’t thinks that bad. I hope that some day I’ll find a worthy mate, and she’ll find a worthy mate. that’s how it should be.

Chivalry is not dead while I live, so to say. Good parting words.

One of the upcoming ‘princes’ of video games, if FFVSXIII ever comes out. Regardless, I’ve recently read ‘The Prince’ and I want to talk about it.

The Prince is written by Machiavelli, a great social commentator of Renaissance era Italy and likely one of the most misunderstood historians of their time. His book, the prince, is not some dictators manual, it is a Prince’s manual. If a prince heads the book, he will understand the dangers of mercenaries, flatterers, being hated by his people, what sort of war and when he should fight it and a thousand other things.

‘It is better to be feared, than loved.” is, first and foremost, a missaying. The proper saying is this: “when choosing between being feared and loved, it is much safer to be feared’. This is a game changer. Machiavelli is discussing how a Prince should conduct himself, and the proper answer is being balanced and honorable. In this way the people know you to be just, and thus will be content, even if they fear you! If they are satisfied that you will not take their possessions and kill them without clear and justified cause, then they may not love you, but they will not hate you. This is similar to fear, in that they will not cross you, but they aren’t your friend.

I learned a great truth, as well. The reason for Alexander’s great success against the Medo-Persian King Darius the 3rd was that the king was killed and no one wanted to fight the guy who destroyed their army. Darius was similar to a Narcissist King, and since he was at the top, and their were no heirs to replace him, the empire said “Screw it, Alexander may as well get it.” This was because all the power was invested in Darius and then distributed through a gigantic system of servant/Lords. The benefits? Hard to begin your campaign against Darius, however, once killed, easy to mop up. European Feudal style is the opposite, Machiavelli mentions, as the various lords infighting makes it easy to get in, but conquering them all would be like conquering individual kingdoms, with the threat of your allies (that let you in to the kingdom in the first place) stabbing you in the back.

The Prince gave me a lot to think about, and I think I’ll talk more about it later.

]]> http://allyouare.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/post-script-the-prince/feed/ 0 xewleer Noctis_by_Sinanxis http://allyouare.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/first-impressions-great-teacher-onizuka/ http://allyouare.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/first-impressions-great-teacher-onizuka/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:30:37 +0000 xewleer http://allyouare.wordpress.com/?p=838 ]]> This man… WILL BE THE WORLD’S BEST TEACHER.

Quite frankly, he could be. Onizuka is a young punk who desires one great dream, to be the world’s best teacher.

He’s not too good at it yet.

Either way, it’s rather funny, fresh and important. Like my earlier post on Outlaw Star, GTO is about the growth of a single character, with all the other characters thrown in. What makes this different? He improves the lives of his students, protecting them, from each other, but especially from themselves.

I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you will too.

Boys will be boys… and that means lots of stupid, stupidly awesome.

Daily lives of High School boys is a simple slice-of-life commedy that follows the mis-adventures and antics of three friends in all boys-school. Tadakuni, Hidenori, and Yoshitake.
Tadakuni (Black-haired fellow) plays the straight man of the group and is often taken in for rides by the other two. Hidenori (Brown-harded glasses-kun) plays the “serious, knowledgable senpai” of the group, though much of that is always in debate. And finally Yoshitake (blonde hairded fellow), well I’m not sure what role he plays, but he seems to start quite a bit more of the stupidity than the others and at times he plays the role of the guy out of the loop.

At its core, I think Daily Lives of High School Boys is a show about growing up and all the stupid little adventures on the path to becoming “men.”  This seems like Wheeler level garble, but that’s my honest opinion at this point. It’s always nice to discover a new favorite and anime continues to surprise me each season with enjoyable things to watch, DLoHSB is definitely one of them and for the laugh-out loud comedy, I’d recommend everyone give the first episode a try, it may surprise you (it has quickly become my favorite commedy of the season).

I think this sums up my reactions to most of the skits.

]]> http://allyouare.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/winter-2012-first-impressions-daily-lives-of-high-school-boys-01-02/feed/ 0 ash http://allyouare.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/post-script-011912-rip-megaupload/ http://allyouare.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/post-script-011912-rip-megaupload/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:53:52 +0000 Ash http://allyouare.wordpress.com/?p=820 ]]> Big events today, that I feel I need to chime in on. Which also begins a new section, which hopefully will see more updates in the future! I present to you: Post Script – Afterthoughts on real world events or issues.

In the famous words…”Today is a day that will live in infamy…”

Well quotations aside, to recap yesterday was the great big internet Black Out, basically most of the big websites and companies went “dark” for a period of 12-24 hours in protest of the new SOPA / PIPA bills proposed in congress.

I’m a big supporter of an open internet, so I’ll just go out and admit that I don’t support either bill, as it wouldn’t do anything but give the MAFIAA more power than it needs.
Today another big event went down, the FBI closed down Megaupload, arrested some of its members, and started a cyber war. Around 15 mins after news of Megaupload’s demise reached the ears of the public, Anonymous began taking down US government websites and MAFIAA related websites. As of this writing, the “attacks” are still going on.

Now I’ll say right out that DoS attacks on these websites don’t do much but cost the companies a tiny bit of money (especially the MAFIAA), but I think they are more symbolism than anything. When the FBI is acting in the interest of the MAFIAA instead of going after national threats, then we have to ask ourselves, where does the trail lead? My meaning of course is that it seems the US Government is more concerned corporate interests than the interests of its own citizens.

Has our government become so corrupt that lobby and corporate bribery “donations” are what controls the actions our government takes?

Some of the comments on this issue I’ve seen accuse Megaupload and the others involved of “stealing US property.” Excuse me? Do you even understand how laws work? They are alleged to have committed copyright violations.  If copyright violations were theft it would be called theft.  There’s a reason that there are separate laws for these things, for God sake man, at the very LEAST understand what you are trying to argue.

Another comment I’ve read stated, “George, artists and producers need to be PAID for the work they do. SHARING means one person is buying one copy for themselves…but then ‘sharing’ it was maybe thousands of others, so the artists and producers are not being paid.  And so then that artist has to get a job as a waiter, and that producer…also has to get a job as a waiter.  Most of us are NOT large corporations, our pockets are NOT “already filled” — wake up to reality: The people who create the entertainment you love are suffering!  This internationally coordinated takedown is huge good news for the future of our industry.”

Here’s another uneducated bloke trying to justify the corruption going down today. Understand that Copyright laws only go as far as to protect those who own the IP from having others profit off their work. I.E. music producers, directors, actors, singers, bands, etc. that are all the ones we listen to and are popular DO have lined pockets. They make money per use of their product ANYWHERE IT IS USED FOR GAIN. We call this royalties and it makes up the margin of the market, and is over billions of dollars in revenue each year. Don’t start defending people with more money than you will ever have in your lifetime, that they need more of it. That’s forcing class barriers. If the property is shared for free, its free propaganda for the makers and free publicity, which is to say its free advertisements for them if anything.

A major issue that I have with what happened today is that ALL of the involved people who were arrested WEREN’T US citizens and they were just “alleged” to have committed crimes. And Megaupload used just for piracy? Well that’s true for ANY file sharing service, I bet most of the stuff on Dropbox etc isn’t legal either. But when a quarter of all coporate traffic uses a service, that means it’s not just about the piracy.

The whole copyright infringement laws we have in the US are pretty ridiculous in themselves, to put it in simple layman perspective, “You get 5 years in jail for copyright infringement of Michael Jackson’s song, but kill Michael Jackson? Only 4 years.”

And the RIAA’s response to all this? They are “Deeply Grateful” to the Justice Department for Thwarting Megaupload’s “Sinister Scheme.” My opinions are as Gizmodo put it best, “The RIAA is excited, and even if the organization has used some choice words before, it has really outdone itself here by calling Megaupload “criminal operators” with the “malicious intent” of undermining the “creative community,” and throwing in a plug for SOPA to boot. Impressive. Don’t forget, though, that Megaupload hasn’t been convicted of anything yet, and that a big part of the creative community the RIAA claims to represent supports Megaupload.” My other belief that goes along with all of this is that this is in retaliation to the Megaupload video incident a while back.

“Piracy” is the new “terrorist.” It’s a hype term that’s being used to justify an abuse of power. People aren’t getting upset about this because they think they deserve free movies. They’re getting upset because the entertainment industry apparently has the Justice Department in its back pocket.

All in all, today’s actions by the FBI prove that the government can AND will take down any site they want. SOPA/PIPA is just corporate interests wanting more power. I’m supporting these attacks, someone needs to stand up for the people and Anonymous is doing that.

P.S.

Episode 11 of Fate/Zero was the feast of Kings. It is an excellent episode, one of the best I have seen. People forget that leadership is all about philosophies. It is one of the great tests of manliness and personal ability alike. A good king will lead his people to greatness, fight off his enemies and his kingdom will last, at least, as long as the King lives.

Fate Zero is the story of the fourth Summoner War. The combatants are about 14 in number, plus however many Assassin is. The large number of characters is beyond me to properly describe, so I will just talk about my three favorite characters. Rider, Archer and Saber, though not in this order. The three are ancient great kings, Alexander the Great (Iskander), Gilgemesh, King of Uruk and  Arthur (Arturia), The Once and Future King. They each have a different philosophy on Kingship.

They may be each summed up in three terms: The Conqueror King, The Narcissist King and the Paladin King. Each are important styles of kinship that really have had happened in history. Part of the genius of the story is that these characters are all larger than life. Saber (Arturia) has such a sense of honor as to be, as Iskander states that in life, she must have been a ‘saintly king’. Gilgemesh only cares about ‘entertainment’. He is only in the war to ‘keep what is already his’, the Holy Grail, the object of the contest. Iskander is in the Holy Grail war to achieve mortal form without a need for mana. Then, he plans on returning to Greece in triumph.

In episode 11, Iskander calls a ‘banquet’ for the members of the Holy Grail War. He means to figure out who is strongest among them via a discussion of ideals. He feels that because the Holy Grail War is about supremacy, they can figure it out via an exchange of their philosophies on Kingship. Now, at the end of my series, I come to the last of them, Saber, Arturia.

ARTURIA! The King of Knights!

The Paladin King is the last of the three archetypes displayed in the King’s Banquet. It is portrayed as the ‘weakest’ in philosophy of the three, despite the relative equal power. It’s to do with their self-centered philosophies. Not that the Paladin King is any better, but rather, they are powerful in their own right, while the Paladin King can call on a ‘higher power’ to justify their actions.

They are limited by their ideals certainly, but it also causes them to have a positive rating from the civilians, if they are wise.  They will also fight tenaciously, even if they face death. The drawbacks, of course, come with a ‘zealot’ mindset and the limiting of their abilities. A Paladin King, following the just path, will not always be able to do all s/he can because his morals say otherwise. Also, if he is hard on his people, and ban certain things that they use to relax, then his people will hate and chafe under him, and he will lose his support.

The Paladin King also runs the benefit of a mass of warriors who gather under him because of his ideals. The Narcissist King has the benefit of adoring worshipers who may sacrifice themselves for his favor. The Conqueror king corrals loyal followers through his charisma and military success. The Paladin King runs the risk of falling away from his beliefs. If that happens, then his supporters leave him, or are abandoned by him. Many cannot rank up to a high standard, as such, they will say ‘I cannot measure up to him, no matter what I do, I will leave him.’ They may even plot their former King’s demise.

It’s important to remember that the Paladin King is not quite his own man. They must follow their sense of justice. For this reason I believe that Arturia’s attack EXCALIBUR!isn’t connected to wealth or their ability to lead, but to her core legend. The sword is a ranged/physical attacks that probably kills anything, if it hits.

The next post will talk about the three kings at once, what they should look out for, and how their people consider them.

This picture is the end of Arturia’s ‘path’. She abandoned her friends and companions, and though she died a saint, she died alone. In myth, King Arthur was given his death wound by Mordred.

Well, I’ve seen Outlaw Star It was pretty good. An excellent example of a space opera and likely a classic as worthy to be watched as Cowboy Bepop, Baccano or Clannad.

The plot is relatively simple, Gene Starwind and his crew use the OUTLAW STAR to find the Galactic Leyline and figure out what it is. There is a subplot involving Gene, Melfina and the McDougal brothers, who killed Gene’s father, indirectly causing an early fear of space travel. As I said in my ‘First Impressions’ post, the two main themes of the Outlaw Star are Dreams and Growth. I believe that the series stays true to it and is more worthy because of it.

This is the main cast. From left to right: Aisha Clan-Clan, Jim Hawking, Gene Starwind, Melfina, Twilight Suzuka.

Aisha Clan-Clan is the dumb muscle of the group. She’s a proud member of the Ctarl-Ctarl empire, a race of cat Lycanthropes (not proper werewolves, though they share similarities). She’s likely the unluckiest of the group, and her pain is played for laughs. She is strong, though, and is entirely loyal. She’s my favorite character. Despite her ‘adulthood’ in the Ctarl-Ctarl civilization, she’s very immature. However, I think that this is common for all young adult Ctarls, as her minions (that she loses due to her special incompetence), are as enthusiastic as she is, but perhaps just as unintelligent.

Jim Hawking is the smart guy of the group. Son of a hacker who abandoned him. Gene picked him up, and the two have worked together ever since. He knows his way around ships, computers and just about everything else. He’s a little immature, and very fast thinking, but he can’t think deeply. His name is similar to James Hawkins, of Treasure Island fame.

Gene Starwind is the main character. He is brash, headstrong and very dangerous. Likely, due to his fierceness and cunning in combat, he is the second most powerful fighter, next to Twilight Suzuka. (Aisha being a strong, but not smart fighter). It is important to realize that he is the ‘dreamer’ of this operation, and despite others being the brains. He is also the leader and pilot of the Outlaw Star, being an excellent grappler ship battler. In the end, his dream of the Galactic Leyline is realized, but not his dream of revenge. He slowly drops ‘boyhood’ playfulness and moves on from playing around to focusing on Melfina.

Melfina is a bio-android and the catalyst for operating the Outlaw Star and being the key to the Galactic Leyline, she was made by the Good Doctor Kahn, She does not know this, and it causes her a bit of angst about it. She gets her answers at the end with the revelations that the Galactic Leyline. She becomes a romantic interest for the playboy Gene. She is a flat character, but it’s more that her depth is uncomplex, making her a good character. An excellent contrast to Gene Starwind.

‘Twilight’ Suzuka, she’s the last to be introduced and likely the strongest of the fighters. She’s fairly aloof towards Gene and the Gang (Aisha isn’t a favorite, for her ‘Suzu’ nickname). She’s an assassin first after the benefactor of the Outlaw Star: Fred Luo. Gene causes her to join him by ruining her undefeated streak. She begins to care about her friends, though she doesn’t show it very well.

VILLAINS

The villains were as well developed as the heroes, though of course, without all the screen time. All three have their own motivations, quirks and powers. I think that the measure of heroes comes in two flavors: their goals and their antagonists.

Hazanko: a very powerful tao master and serves as the ‘Big Bad’ of the series. He is after the Galactic Leyline, where he hopes to take enough power to overthrow the Tendo King and Emperor. Because he’s ridiculously powerful, it is likely the Tendo duo are near demigod in power. Thankfully, they are never seen.

The McDougal Brothers: The pair responsible for Gene’s Fathers death. Ron and Harry are the most mercenary of all the characters. They often do anything for money, and are a little crazy themselves. Ron is very level headed, if bloodthirsty. He has a good relation with his brother and often goes out of his way to protect him. Harry is more crazy, but he calms down as the series progresses. He goes from ‘full human’ to a state similar to Melfina. Besides calming him, it also causes him to fall in love with her, and is much more open about it than Gene is about his feelings. This, however, disturbs her, and causes her to push away from him.

Plot

Gene Starwind and Jim Hawkins are hired by Hilda to help her with a job. The job is to pick up a box containing ‘Melfina’ who is described elsewhere. Hilda and Co go to Hey-fong, a space-station, indirectly causing Aisha’s fall from grace in the empire. The three go to a lone star, where the Outlaw Star is hidden, though they are pursued by Tao Pirates from Hazanko’s pirate group. In escaping, Hilda is killed and Gene assumes control of the ship.

After adventures, they acquire Aisha and Suzuka. They search and find the Galactic Leyline, where adventures happen that I won’t spoil you about. HO HO HO. The series is worth watching, though, and I hope that all the readers of this blog decide to watch it.

Thoughts

A good series, good characters, solid plot and superb space battles. The Art was consistent and worthy of an anime of its scope. The comedy was light hearted and the action well paced. Perhaps it doesn’t have the OOMPH that other shows I’ve seen, but still very good.

I feel that the growth of the characters attracted me. Much like Mass effect 2′s loyalty missions, as the characters interacted and solved various problems for each other, they grew closer. Eventually they got to the point where Aisha was more than willing to sacrifice herself for Jim when fighting on of Hanzaku’s minions. She, of course, survived, but it was still very touching to see how she had come, in the Ctarl-Ctarl way, to be affectionate to the other members of the crew. Suzuki is a similar example. Once quite cold and aloof, she begins to spend time with them and even enjoy a few of the jokes with a small smile.

I also found the universe well developed. There were distinct factions, each with their own goals and desires. The music was well chosen. There was just enough fanservice, the balance between being unusual and being far too much. The English dub was very well done.

The opening:

Very good, shows all the characters and some villains without being excessive. You get a feel of the show from it.

Nice sounding, the pictures give a good looksee. The music gives a good feeling of ending to an episode.

Final Word:

A show for the sci-fi lover who likes a good tale. It is to be watched sequentially, and over a period of time, like a week.

Perhaps the truest fire of most students is tested in college. They must learn so much, and I cannot take more than a moment’s rest (heh).  But I think I owe it to talk about it a little.

I am a historian, of the school of the great men. I will not attempt to learn everything about the specifics of anything for a while, because I believe that all history should be a historian’s lifeblood. It is important to remember that our entire civilization is built ENTIRELY on the deeds of the past. We forget this. We look at our modernity and be content but without perspective. The perspective to improve ourselves. None of the greatest historians were without perspective.

Machiavelli, himself a great historian, though more of a sociologist, knew why empires and kingdoms fell. His great works, The Prince and the Republic, both, all show masterful control of history. Others, like Tolkien and CS Lewis both knew their history.

History is one of the foundations of knowing your profession. Psychologists cannot understand their profession without knowing the basics of Freud and Jung, after all, they forged the profession. Or Sociology (as I mentioned before) Many of our advances in that field were due to historical occurences, like the mass migration of entire people groups and the Industrial Revolution.

I love history. With enough of a knowledge of history, almost anything can be overcome, learned or understood.

Guilty Crown finally gets good again and it looks like they are gunna pull a Gurren Lagann.

(Warning: Spoilers and rambling aplenty!)

Welcome back to another Freezeframe, its been awhile for this segment, but I felt that this weeks comeback of Guilty Crown marks a good start, especially the ending.

Gai makes a heroic sacrifice this week and most of the loose ends of the series have been tied up, a good ending to this somewhat average series. Oh wait, this is just the halfway mark, so I guess this is the part where Simon Shu decides to man up over a timeskip that is not shown on screen and we can look back to the first thirteen episodes as preparing him to be the true lead of the show.

In all seriousness, I’m liking this turn of events for Guilty Crown, though I’m not sure how if tying up most of the Mana/Gai ends in this episode was really a good idea, what is left besides Daath to clear up? Not much, I can only hope the writers do better on the 2nd half than they did for the first.

The whole Gai and Shu personality reversal was a very interesting revelation. It gives Gai’s character a bit more depth and helps to show  that Shu wasn’t always a wuss. I’m hoping that this is foreshadowing of what is to come for timeskip Shu (assuming they DO go that route).

Gai’s sacrifice at the end was also very unexpected and the whole promise to be Mana’s knight that he kept through the years (by becoming stronger to stop her once and for all etc) was a very nice touch. The thing Shu will have to live with now is that he delt the killing blow to BOTH Gai and his Mana (to be fair Mana was already kinda dead and Gai was dying and asking him to do it). I hope that Inori becomes less of an emotionless doll (which I’m glad they explained why she was like that) and learns to properly love/interact with Shu.

The sad thing with Guilty Crown was that it had a bunch of hype, an awesome first episode, and then a slew of lackluster episodes. But often in animes that I find lackluster there are episodes like this one (Kobato last 2 episodes anyone?) that just redeem an anime for me. This was that episode, tons of character development, plot, and drama. With this episode the series has gone back to episode 01 for me and from reactions around the Net, I can see that many fans feel the same way. I hope that the creators are smart enough to capitalize on that and make the remaining episodes worthy of such a redeeming episode (though to be frank there were a few sketchy things in this episode and the fact that Lost Christmas was only slightly touched upon, no surprise since that story is getting its own book).

Welcome back Guilty Crown.