…should technically not be Barack Obama since Grover Cleveland served two noncontinuous terms – yes, while we credit him for being the 22nd and 24th president, you can argue that once you’ve been a president, you cannot become a new president and thus it should be seen as a break, making him the 43rd President of the United States!

Revel in THAT, bitches.

-Positron

Lean with it, walk with it, write with it, block with it!

[2009.01.18]

[2009.01.17]

[2009.01.16]

[2009.01.15]

[2009.01.14]

[2009.01.13] What is your first reaction when someone says “I need to talk to you”?
Self-defense mode by default unless the tone is completely devoid of any malicious intent.

[2009.01.12] Woolworths shut its doors in the U.K. last week, sending many into a frenzy of nostalgia and bargain shopping. What now-closed store or chain do you wish was still open?
Your mom’s vagina? I’m honestly not really emotionally attached to stores or chains; I’m more of a restaurant and musical venue kind of man. Seriously, though, it was great when your mom’s vagina was open to the public. I remember how us guys would be allowed to loiter outside the entrance while people steadily flowed in and out. We’d breakdance and freestyle all day, and it’d bring such a smile to her face.

Once again borrowing from LiveJournal, rapid-fire Writer’s Block Sunday!

[2009.01.11] The eternal breakfast dilemma: Sweet or savory?
85% savory, 15% sweet.

[2009.01.10] Jam a bunch of people together in a tight space like a bus or the subway and something crazy is bound to happen. What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen on mass transit?
Oh, okay, I actually have a decent answer for this one. On the way back from Washington D.C., four black girls get on the Metro and start singing various rap songs near where I am. I like a party, so I offer to keep beat by drumming on the interior back seat plastic window with my fists and open palms. Everyone in that specific train car had a great time for the seven or so stops it lasted.

[2009.01.09] When times are tough or you’re feeling down, what’s the one food you can count on to make you feel better?
Some sort of pasta dish – I like too many varieties to narrow it down.

[2009.01.08] As the old saying goes, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. What’s the best thing—chairs, roller skates, old electronics—you’ve ever found that someone else had thrown away?
Mostly posters. I like to go around and find random posters that stores need to get rid of and take them.

[2009.01.07] 26-year-old actor Matt Smith was anointed as the eleventh Doctor Who this week. If you were in charge of casting, who would you cast as your ideal Doctor and why?
The guy who imitated Sean Connery on all those SNL Celebrity Jeopardies, because then maybe I would actually watch it.

[2009.01.06] What is the one question you’ve always wanted someone to ask you?
Can you keep a secret?

[2009.01.05] It’s National Bird Day in the U.S. Do you think it’s cruel to keep birds in cage where they can’t fly freely or flock with others of their kind?
Yes.

11 questions down, 354 to go until 2010!

-Positron

As part of my New Year’s resolution, I’m keeping track of my weight with the help of Wii Fit!

[2009.01.01] – 208.3 lbs. / BMI 30.
[2009.01.02] – 207.2 lbs. / BMI 30.
[2009.01.03] – 206.8 lbs. / BMI 30.
[2009.01.04] – 202.2 lbs. / BMI 29.94
[2009.01.05] – 201.7 lbs. / BMI 29.88
[2009.01.06] – 201.9 lbs. / BMI 29.91
[2009.01.07] – lbs. / BMI 29

I’m guessing the early drop was mostly water weight, but hopefully I can grind my way to a gradual decline as I increase my workout both on and off Wii Fit.

-Positron

As you know, Barack Obama is using some of the time pre-inauguration to garner bipartisan support for the massive Obama-Biden economic plan aimed at pulling the country out of recession as quickly as possible. With total costs estimated between $700 billion and $1 trillion, you’d think that kind of money could easily be misspent, intentionally or unintentionally, but fret not. Other politicians will not be able to earmark anything in order to fund personal projects, and not only will there be an Economic Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to oversee the flow of funds, there will supposedly be a website that anyone can visit to track the distribution of money themselves.

The entirety of the plan can be found here. If you can slog through the text (and cross-reference Wikipedia for stuff that might need clarification, lol) you can find a solid plan with some room for improvement that will undoubtedly arise in talks with Congress.

-Positron

I always run out of writing steam by the end of the weekend, so I’ve decided to dedicate a short post every Sunday to Writer’s Block questions from LiveJournal. Here are four short answers to four short questions…

[2009.01.01] A lot of resolutions, from the mundane to the truly ambitious, are being made today. What are your New Year’s resolutions? Do you think you’re likely to stick to them past the month of January?
I hope to get back into drawing a bit as well as achieve a BMI of 27 by the end of the semester, 25 by the end of the year. I’m trying not to be overzealous so that the drive remains constant long enough for me to like doing it, so hopefully they’ll stick past January. Anything else I end up wanting to do will be played by ear.

[2009.01.02] Many people believe that what you do on New Year’s Day sets the tone for your entire year. How did you spend the first day of 2009? Do you think it will influence the rest of the year?
It was a quiet, relaxing day with some simple food and a bit of exercise. If only the majority of my days could go that smoothly…

[2009.01.03] Using one word for each letter of the alphabet, make a list of the words you most associate with yourself or that you feel best describe you.
apperceptive, brilliant, cautious, diplomatic, eccentric, frenetic, gourmand, humorous, imaginative, jovial, knowledgeable, loving, myopic, nerdy, optimistic, persistent, questioning, respectful, sarcastic, taciturn, underrated, veracious, whimsical, xenial, youthful, zen

[2009.01.04] Today in 1893 U.S. President Benjamin Harrison declared full amnesty for Mormon polygamists. Is it the government’s place to define which marriages are valid and which are not?
I think the only government definition that should be in place is that marriages can only be between humans. Anything else is just silly.

Until next time.

-Positron

Israel’s getting way too aggressive for their own good. Sure, Hamas has no business launching missiles from the northern Gaza strip, but the powerful military counterstrike is itching of a 2006 Hezbollah repeat in which Israel might actually accomplish its goals but gain nothing of actual value from their actions while Hamas survives and garners more support. Though I hate to admit that I can’t think of a good solution without coming off as completely anti-Palestinian or anti-Semitic (much of this is fundamentally rooted in the right of Israel as a Jewish state to even exist, a notion I actually struggle with myself), I have to bank on Barack Obama’s intellectual and diplomatic capabilities in order to resolve the conflict. We all know Bush couldn’t really bother, so I figure anything Obama tries has to be better than the last eight years. Still, I have confidence that something positive will eventually come out of the incoming administration as far as the Middle East is concerned.

On a slightly-related aside, have you heard of G.ho.st? It’s basically a virtual computer accessible from anywhere with an internet connection and browser. It’s been in public alpha for quite a while, but it’s still a very convenient and secure service, especially for the lightly-packed traveler or those who value a good file back-up system. If you decide to give it a shot and it asks for references during sign-up, tell ‘em del.positronics sent you! Of course, if you don’t like me, you could tell ‘em Nuuuuf sent you; she’d probably appreciate that. Don’t worry about it if you don’t know her – she’s a (mostly) good person.

I bring it up now because Israelis and Palestinians stop, collaborate, and listen to each other as they develop G.ho.st products, even now. It’s a small reminder that physical and ideological separation does not have to impede basic human compassion and a strong desire to share in the pursuit of personal passions. (And yes, I just threw you readers a Vanilla Ice lyric. Consider it an indicator of the level of sophistication this rantspace will aspire to bring you.)

Heavy topics aside, I tried a Monte Cristo sandwich for the first time today. It was as delicious as the contents of the book detailing its count, haha. The frying does not really seem necessary, but it’s a nice touch and also melts the cheese a bit more evenly. However, I had it arranged a little strangely. I opted to use flatbread and add lettuce, tomato, and bean sprouts to the standard ham, turkey, and Gruyère. It worked, although flatbread holds batter a little oddly.

And with that awkward segue over, I bid you a good night and a better tomorrow.

-Positron

As much as I don’t want one of my very first posts on this blog to be an anime review, I never really get a chance to watch much these days. Luckily, there are only six episodes in this series, so this should be really short. As usual, I’ll try to avoid flat-out spoilers unless they’re too strange to ignore.

Short anime OVAs – those much less than 24-26 episodes – tend to be perilous territory to venture into. Usually you can count on anything longer to be at least passable, but when you get less episodes to work with, the potential level of suck tends to concentrate within the series instead of decrease proportionately to its length. While there are plenty of enjoyable short-term animes floating around (FLCL, Baccano, Spice and Wolf*), you still run the risk of completely wasting your time (Saikano, 009-1, god-awful Stratos 4).

So when I came across Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu and saw that it was only six episodes, I was initially skeptical. However, it was early in the morning, and since I was too tired to do anything productive but not tired enough to sleep, I decided to put aside two-and-a-half hours to watch it.

Cover of the light novel version depicting Iriya Kana.

And you know, it actually wasn’t too bad.

First off, if you’re looking for action scenes involving fights against aliens, look elsewhere – there’s a noticeable focus on building up a believable relationship between the main protagonists due to the time allotted. The series revolves around male high school student Asaba Naoyuki and Iriya Kana, the physically and emotionally-strained female pilot of the Black Manta, an advanced air fighter created to fend off aliens and the occasional human attack in a war that has been ongoing since June 24, 1947 and the Kenneth Arnold incident. They are surrounded by a decent cast of supporting characters, such as conspiracy-seeking school newspaper chairman Kunihiro Suizenji, Kana’s primary guardian Enomoto, Kana’s love-rival Sudou Akiho, and Naoyuki’s sister Yuuko.

The first three-and-a-half episodes of the series are what one could normally expect from a series like this: boy-rescues-shy-girl-pilot-from-drowning-and-teaches-her-how-to-swim introduction, moments of military-related tension, a love triangle, a romance gradually overcoming its limitations, and well-executed light humor in the form of conflicted sisterly concern, drunken sexual pity from childhood friends, and eating contests. (Don’t worry, it’s not one of those fanservice productions.)

Things start getting weird towards the last third of the series, however. After Kana’s condition gets considerably worse, Naoyuki decides to run away with her. Unfortunately, the stress of being pursued and Kana almost having to knife a guy to death takes its toll on her emotionally. Naoyuki, mad at his inability to do more for her, gets annoyed and goes off on her. Apparently this pushes Kana over the edge so much that she loses the ability to recognize him and then develops progressive retrograde amnesia. I kid you not.

They are eventually discovered by the military, and she is taken back to base while Naoyuki waits for three days as the final battle draws near. However, Kana quickly develops post-traumatic stress disorder before her scheduled sortie and starts pulling a Rambo on the naval carrier U.S.S. Ticonderoga. (Honest.) Naoyuki is flown in, they confess their love for each other, and Kana boards the Black Manta to defend Naoyuki from aliens. Despite her victory she dies, presumably from overtaxing her body. Before going back to school again, Naoyuki makes an Azumanga Daioh crop circle (seriously, it’s the hiragana for “yo”) and the series ends.

Now, despite it getting ridiculous at times, everything is executed fairly well. In fact, this is the sole reason the series doesn’t just become another crappy Saikano – it’s long enough to cover everything relevant but short enough to hold your attention. There’s only so much you can do with military romance tragedies before it becomes overly emo or just plain tired. However, this series does falter a bit with the handling of the very end: not only does Kana not survive (forgivable but upsetting), but it doesn’t even seem to considerably phase Naoyuki. If it was more vivid and overdramatic, I would swear it was a stereotypically bad GAINAX ending (example: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, an otherwise good series). On the other end of the spectrum, the ending is also quite lulzy, and while I don’t want to spoil too much, let’s just say that part of Kana’s history involved becoming autistic before meeting Naoyuki. Watch the last episode if you don’t believe me, it’s probably still up on Veoh or torrent.

In the end, it falls into the niche anime category occupied by titles such as Golgo 13 and Grenadier. That’s not a bad thing, but it lacks general audience appeal. For those who can appreciate it for what it is, however, you’ll find a short and bittersweet tale of young romance.

Score: 77

-Positron

*Note: In Fall 2008, it was announced that Spice and Wolf was green-lit for a second season. As of this post, it has not yet been completed.

Release History
[v1.0] – Tried keeping a journal at Blogspot. Didn’t like my layout options.
[beta 7.33, 9.55] – Attempted maintaining a LiveJournal account. Worked okay, but too casual for my blogging style.

So this is the new incarnation of The Positron Dimension, or as the kanji would have you believe, pojitoron no menseki, the menseki referring to a dimension as more of a room rather than a coordinate along a directional extent or alternate plane of existence.

To be honest, I’m not sure in what direction to take this thing or what to tell you to expect from this humble WordPress. I plan to update as much as possible with random interesting things while trying to be as original as my thoughts will allow. As this space proliferates with writing and I grow accustomed to WordPress functionality, I will probably start compartmentalizing posts, but for now everything will be shown on this main page.

For now I’ll let the posts speak for my own personality. When I hit 21, I’ll explicitly let you know more about me for those vaguely interested. Just don’t expect too much, okay?

Anyway, Happy New Year, and I look forward to hopefully reveling in 2009 with the rest of you.

-Positron