I'm sure you, too, know the history of the Sholes ("QWERTY") keyboard, that was designed to avoid that too fast typists jammed mechanical typewriters. You would know also that the Dvorak layout is cosidered by many to be faster and more effective.
When I tried to learn to use the Dvorak keyboard, a friend of mine asked me: «Why don't you write a program to measure your keyboard usage, and then obtain a personalized layout?». In a moment of crazyness, I decided to do just that.
The first program is freq.pl, which reads the files given on the command line and produces a probability matrix, writing it into the file whose name is in the $MATRFN variable, default /tmp/freq.matr. Actually it sees the text as a Markov process over the characters with memory 1, and extracts the transition matrix. Note: the elements are frequencies, not probabilities. The optional normalization is left as exercise to the reader.
The second program is freqdump.pl, which is probably useless. I've written it (three or four different versions) to have an idea about the frequencies. Give it a look if you want.
The most useful program (I hope) is optkeyb.pl, which starting from the matrix (as usual, filename hardcoded) and the QWERTY layout searches by stochastic gradient descent a better layout. In other words, it calculates a value for the layout (sum over the pairs of keys of their distance times the frequency of that pair), then tries to exchange two random keys looking for a better result. To avoid local minima (there are a lot) it starts by randomly exchanging $PRE_SHUFFLE pairs, and if it doesn't find a better layout for $STARVATION tries it starts again, after having written the locally optimum layout at the end of the file /tmp/layouts. It uses curses and the corresponding Perl module Curses.pm.
To avoid bad things, like numbers scattered between other keys, it's possible to set into the %locked hash the keys that must not be moved.
To give yoy an idea of the results, after some hours of computation the best layout was:
` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ; = - x w h t s a l b y ' j q z \ [ c i e r u p . , k v f d n o m g ] /
Bear in mind I use a IBM U.S. keyboard, and where the q is, there's usually the backslash/pipe key, which is larger than the others, so I should have locked it...
To have an idea of the optimization, the value relative to the QWERTY layout is 10.190.280, for the one above is 6.797.370, meaning a 34% reduction in the space travelled by the fingers during writing.
markus is back. wrote the configuration DTD & parser for dewdrops. bid on a 3com 3c589d on ebay.au for $30
discovered why Sarah stinks: she pisses in her panties! this evening Paul complimented for her being dry! argh!
looked for some accomodation for the end of august in Sydney, will have to stay at the youth hostel: $30/night, compared to $120/night of the cheapest hotel.
These are grouped by author.
Mostly known as the author of Dragon Ball, the work of his that I most like is Dr Slump: humorous and surreal story of an inventor who builds sentient robots with the most absurd issues. Toriyama's humour still echoes in recent Japanese works.
You probably know her for Inu Yasha and Ranma½, I would suggest instead reading her short stories (Mermaid Saga, One-pound Gospel, Rumic Theater) and her first long series, Urusei Yatsura: probably the first example of harem story / sudden girlfriend appearance, funny and sweet.
Read everything he's written. 2001 Nights and the sort-of sequel, 2001+5, are great examples of golden-age hard SF seen from a different perspective.
The god of manga. Japanese popular culture would be very different without him. Favourites of mine:
But seriously, read as much Tezuka as you can get your hands on. Warning: some characters are depicted in a way that looks quite racist today, but was "common" at the time. Make of that what you will.
Writer and director, justly famous for Akira. The movie is good, but the manga has much more depth and breadth.
In general, Shirow puts plenty of jokes in his works, and his obsession with guns and tanks &c may be off-putting, but there's serious thoughts underneath it all.
Yes, one of the founders of Studio Ghibli also wrote manga. His masterwork is Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, a story of epic proportions about war, friendship, environmentalism, and the future of humanity. The movie of the same name is a pale shadow of the manga.
Her manga are dark and melancholy. Kurogane, Hitsuji no Uta (Lament of the Lamb), Hatsukanezumi no Jikan (Time of the Mice).
Raw and bloody. Narutaro, Bokura No, Wings of Vendemiaire
One of the founders of shoujo manga. Only work of hers I've read so far is They Were Eleven, '70 SF at its best.
His and Her Circumstances is a very nice romance story: the characters talk to each other! And when the obvious couple get together, they stay together and work through their problems!
Author of one of the saddest stories I've ever read, Saishou Heiki Kanojo (a.k.a. "she, the ultimate weapon").
Kakugo no Susume half-serious, half-parody post-apocalyptic fighting story: cursed power armours built by Imperial Japan, mutated insects and monstrous plants used to frame shoujo-style panels, Buddhist precepts, and a tremendously queer antagonist.
Kiseiju: the aliens have invaded, and they look just like us. Is pacific co-existence possible?
Also Historie, but I haven't read it yet.
Space Brothers, a love letter to space exploration and the people who make it possible.
The Qualia of Purple mind-bending story of a girl who sees people as robots, and of her friend who wants to protect her.
Tanigawa wrote the Haruhi Suzumiya series of light novels, later adapted to manga and anime. I think that the best manga set in that universe is The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan (warning: spoilers for The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya)
A Centaur's Worries starts as a school comedy with centaurs, angels, sheep-people, mermaids. It then mixes in SF elements, conspiracy theories, international politics, and I'm still not sure where it's going.
Revolutionary Girl Utena the manga has a different story than the anime; I still have to watch the anime.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou slice of life of an android running a country café in a world after a global flood, very slow and poetic, beautifully drawn.
maybe a metaphor for Purgatory, maybe for socialism, maybe just a story to learn to forgive one's self, this series is beautiful
One of the first works by Gainax, with character design by MIKIMOTO Haruhiko and direction by ANNO Hideaki. Giant robots, teen angst, special relativity. The sequel, Daibuster, is also remarkable for keeping up with the scale of the original.
See my review.
The start of the "surreal" period of Gainax. A weaponised guitar, a Vespa, double-entendres, unusual relationships.
“I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, beings from the future, or super-humans, come see me. That is all!” Between zany and profound, this is one of the most intriguing series I've even seen. Originally broadcast intentionally out of order, I think it works better watched in that order than in the straight internally chronological one.
Early work by, among others, MIYAZAKI Hayao and TAKAHATA Isao. Many Ghibli films will use themes and character details from this series.
See my review.
See my review.
See my review.
See my review.
See my review.
See my review.
See my review.
Young girls crew a military base in not-quite-Switzerland. War, relationship between military and civilians, trumpets, old myths.
This is not a standard magical girl story. If Punie can't win with magic, she'll win with uncontrolled brutality.
Intrusive virtual reality, hacking, friendship. Oh, and cute girls with glasses.
Exploration of a society with humanoid, Asimov-style robots. Also watch the movie and the related short Mizu no Kotoba.
If you've only seen Robotech, you owe it to yourself to see the original version of one of the three works that were mashed together for the US rewrite. The best summary of Macross is "humans win a war against violent aliens by singing at them".
High school brass / marching band club, working hard to pass the selections toward the national contest. Good music, good portrayal of the amount of work involved in learning to play musical instruments, and a very sweet romance.
The series that re-booted the "giant robots" genre. Gory, messy, with an ending that still has people arguing after twenty years and several animated reiterations.
Relentlessly optimistic space adventure. At the beginning it feels pretty similar to "They Were Eleven" by Hagio MOTO, but then it goes in a very different direction.
To the best of my knowledge, Crybaby is the first faithful and complete adaptation of the Devilman manga.
Magical girls, dimension-hopping, Akira-like ending.
Rich girl runs away from home, meets poor girl, they become a musical sensation. Also, fight fascism with songs.
A city populated by anthropomorphic animals, a taxi driver, the surprisingly interwoven lives of his clients. It reminded me of Durarara!! both for the semi-fantastical urban setting, and for the writers' ability to tie many plot lines together.
From Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind (technically pre-dating the founding of Ghibli) to When Marnie was There, via Totoro, Pon Poko, Kiki, Porco Rosso, Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Arrietty, The Wind Rises, Princess Kaguya. Ghibli has been essentially the benchmark of excellence in animation for thirty years.
Live action movie by OSHII Mamoru, about immersive games, subjective realities, and Arthurian myths.
Oshii's best known work, keeping close to the events narrated in the original manga but injecting a very personal meaning.
Growing up, responsibilities, following one's true calling.
See my review.
See my review.
See my review. This movie is set after the second season of the series.
By the same author as Eve no Jikan. A story about re-interpreting the present by re-discovering the past.
SHINKAI Makoto's big debut, about very-long-distance relationships.
Oshii's first movie, all his trademarks can bee seen already.
Over-the-top absurdist magical girl. If you thought that Excel Saga was too long, and not surreal enough.
Well made historical about the life of the famous painter Hokusai from the point of view of his daughter Oei
"Introverted" is probably an understatement: the five girls of the Amamizu-kan are otaku with paralysing social anxiety problems. Chieko collects dolls and kimonos, Bamba knows everything about trains, Mayaya sees the world only through references to the Three Kingdoms, Jiji likes old men, the never-seen Mejiro writes manga, Tsukimi loves jellyfishes. And it is while trying to save a jellyfish that Tsukimi meets the person who will change her life: Kuranosuke, the cross-dressing son of a big-name politician.
Drama, politics, comedy, and romance ensue. The girls will become a little less paralysed when out in the world, Tsukimi will find her calling, and a significant plot line is left dangling…
I admit that I liked this series way more than I expected to. The girls are mostly depicted as irredeemable losers, living off their parents' money with no will for change. Mejiro is the only one with a job (but she's very tangential to the story), and Tsukimi is the only one who can at least imagine changing her condition. Tsukimi and Kuranosuke are the only two characters who have some real depth, although Kuranosuke's half-brother and the real estate developer get some development.
And yet, and yet… Even if the girls are funny, they're not really made fun of: we laugh more with them than at them. Kuranosuke's cross-dressing is considered a nuisance by his family, but nobody ever thinks less of him for it. The way people dress is shown to be very important, but in a "let's impress the shallow people of the world" way, not as an end in itself. Everything is measured to keep the story lively, funny, and intriguing, but never demeaning any of the characters.
The original manga, written by HIGASHIMURA Akiko (東村 アキコ), is still ongoing, and given that the anime leaves at least one plot line to be resolved, I'd really love to see a second series: the anime was broadcast soon after the publication of the fifth volume, and four more have been published in the meantime. There's no official announcement, though…
If you like "slice of life" stories, cute / awkward girl characters, and captivating stories, you'll love this series. And even if you don't, find a way to watch at least the opening: it's so full of movie references that it will take you at least three repeats to get them all!
This is a horror movie. You know because there's people with terrified faces, the main character is a Plain Girl that's in over her head, she's got two friends, one's a Bookworm and one's a Slut (sorry, technical term here, haven't you seen Cabin in the Woods?), there's a Journalist in search of the Truth, and a Mad Scientist. There is also millions of fishes of every size, coming out of the sea and walking all over Japan on mechanical legs, but really, you'd label this "horror" even without seeing any of the beasts.
Yes, it's quite trope-heavy. It's also rather undecided on what it wants to be. At the beginning, you may think it's a near-parody of the genre. Then it continues in a more standard tone; the first serious attack happens while the Slut is having fun with two random guys, there's contagion, panic in the streets. It then nods to hentai, with near-tentacle-porn at least twice. You may even think there's some sort of social commentary, seeing as most of the people are shown carrying on with their lives even in the midst of the invasion: at the airport and at the train station, everyone is checking their watches and the departure boards, while the monstrous fishes are just a few metres away. Or maybe it's an old-style horror: the fishes are the result of a military experiment, says the Mad Scientist. Or it's really an allegory: the infected people are not totally mindless! Oh, it's mystic: the gas that fills the monsters has a personality! No, it was aliens!
And then it ends. Seriously. No resolution, no insight, not even "and so humans went extinct". Just… the end.
I'm clearly not a lover of horrors, so I may be doing some injustice to this title, but I really couldn't get into it. Not just because the premise is quite absurd, that's sort of par for the course, but also because of quite a few internal inconsistencies: none of the "explanations" given by the characters has much bearing to what they're seeing, for example; or, why only people turn green, and not the fishes or other animals? It just feels like a set of random ideas thrown together without much sense. Even the animation is not particularly good, with the CG parts jarring against the mostly flat shading of the drawn parts.
Lovers of horror movies, or staunch proponents of the "so bad it's good" school, may find this interesting and even rewarding. Me, I'm off to watch something else.
You've probably heard of SHINKAI Makoto (新海 誠), or at least seen some of his works: "Voices of a Distant Star", "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" (also known as "Beyond the Clouds, the Promised Place"), "5 Centimeters per Second". They're all very introspective stories, where the main focus is on the characters' feelings.
"Agartha" is the story of Asuna, who lost her father years before, and whose mother works long hours and night shifts. Asuna also appears to have few friends at school. She spends most of her time taking care of the house, and what little free time she has left she spends listening on a crystal radio, using a strange crystal her father left her. One day, she hears a haunting music, and she's later attacked by a monstrous bear-like creature. Shun, a boy with clearly super-human abilities saves her. Trying to find him again, she's dragged by her substitute teacher, Morisaki, into a journey in the mysterious underground land of Agartha, where it's said that dead people can be brought back to life. During the journey she'll meet Shun's brother Shin, and through many dangers and hard choices, they will all grow and learn.
"Agartha" should, again, be a character-centric work, but I couldn't really connect with Asuna, Shin, or Morisaki. Shinkai style works very well with slow stories and contemplative atmospheres, and this movie is paced a bit too fast for that. Sure, trying to film this story at the same pace as "Promised Place" would probably have made it unwatchable… because there is not really much going on inside the characters and between them: they're all trying to come to terms with the death of a loved one. They interact relatively little with each other, and the consequences of their interactions are not as large as could be hoped for.
On the other hand, the drawings and the animation are gorgeous. Some scenes are reminiscent of Laputa, others of Mononoke; there's the distinct impression that Shinkai is trying to imitate Studio Ghibli, and CoMix Wave Films rises up to the challenge, visually. Disappointingly, as I said above, the story and the emotional impact are not at the same level.
In the end, this is a very good looking movie, with a not-very-inventive plot, and much less emotion than Shinkai's previous works. Not bad, just below expectations.
The setting: the two countries of Anatoray and Disith are engaged in an endless war, governed by strict rules enforced by the Guild. Most of the battles are fought with flying vessels, armed not only with batteries of cannons, but also with rifle infantry (yes, people on ships, shooting at each other in the sky). A postal service via small, fast flying machines connects the various parts of each country. Communications between the countries are nearly impossible: the Grand Stream stands between them, a large region of constant turbulence. The two Anatoray protagonists, Claus and Lavie, are orphans, their fathers having died years before, trying to cross the Stream to deliver a peace proposal to Disith. Now, they're charged with delivering young Alvis to the mysterious ship Silvana, and the Guild does not seems completely pleased about that.
It's not a totally original story, but it does not matter much: the characters are interesting, their interplay is well written, and most of the plot is tight enough to let you ignore the occasional issue. I think the last episode makes a bit of a hash of things, skipping a few explanatory scenes that would have much helped to understand what's going on, but if you watch it a couple of times you should get the gist. Mind you, I also don't like the ending, so my opinion may be a bit biased.
There's echoes of Miyazaky's Nausicaä in the set-up of the war, and of Matsumoto's Harlock in the crew of the Silvana; in Fractale (8 years more recent than Last Exile) you can see that the power dynamic between the Temple and Lost Millennium is very similar to the one between the Guild and the Silvana.
The society, technology and the aesthetic are the now familiar anachronistic mix of steampunk: Victorian-era military uniforms, stylised military rules and honour-bound officers, brass and leather and goggles everywhere, machines running on steam and non-obvious tech (here, mostly anti-gravity). The main exception is the Guild, with much more advanced technology and completely different aesthetic, but that only serves to mark them as different and to support their "right to rule".
An interesting detail: the title of each episodes references an aspect of the game of chess, relevant to the plot of the episode itself. Given how the Guild is playing the two countries against each other, and the complicated and strict rules under which the war is fought, this choice is not just a quirk.
SHINKAI Makoto (新海 誠) became famous a decade ago with Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no Koe ほしのこえ), a short (25 minutes) about a long distance relationship (across interstellar space and relativistic time distortions).
He went on to write and direct longer movies (The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 雲のむこう, 約束の場所, 2004; 5 Centimeters per Second, 秒速5センチメートル, 2007; Journey to Agartha, 星を追う子ども, 2011), trying with various levels of success to keep the attention of the characters' emotions and inner stories, more than on the overall plot and action.
With "Garden of words" (言の葉の庭), Shinkai returns to a shorter form, which I have to say seems to be more congenial to him: his longer movies felt slow and diluted, and it was hard for me to stay engaged (ok, "5 centimeters per second" should probably be counted as three shorts instead of a long movie, but I honestly had problems staying awake during the first one). A 15-year-old boy skips the first few hours of school when it rains, spending the time in the Gyoen park in Shinjuku, designing shoes. Yes, he wants to be a shoemaker when he grows up, and he's already made a pair of moccasins for himself. In the park, he meets an older woman, who seems to have some problems she doesn't talk about: she eats chocolate and drinks beer, she reads, and not much else. They start talking to each other, and this will help both of them to grow and overcome their problems.
As I said, the story is not much, but the gorgeous quality of the picture, the subtle music, and the impressive voice acting carry the work perfectly. If you like Shinkai's work, you don't need any prompting; if you had given up on him after Agartha, Garden may make you think again: I know it did to me.
In 2000 I had the occasion to spend two months in Australia, paid for by the University of Wollongong; this is the diary of those days:
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I have several weeks' worth of anime that I want to watch. But watching it alone is no fun. So I call on my Twitter & Fediverse followers, the readers of my website, and their trusted friends: let's meet at my house, and watch some.
Details:
We usually meet on the third (or sometimes first) Saturday of each month.
March 25th.
If you want to receive e-mail about upcoming meetings, write me and I'll add you to the mailing list.
We were only two, so we watched some random stuff that nobody would miss.
K-On!, first 2 episodes (review)
Four high-school girls forming a band. More or less. Klutzy main character, plenty of moe. These first episodes are mostly showing the setting and the characters.
Super Gals, first 2 episodes
Gals in Shibuya. Funny with slightly jarring serious moments. I seem to remember the manga mixing them better.
Charming Figures of the Magical Girl Trio (OVA)
20 minutes total, of which about 5 are actual new animation, and the rest are collages from three mahou shoujo series. If you have never seen Creamy Mami, Persia, and Magical Emi, this will make no sense at all. If you have seen them, it will just be a bit boring :)
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt episodes 9-10 (review)
This one keeps getting more and more surreal.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, up to episode 5 (review)
The main character is still not a Magical Girl, people keep getting hurt, and I trust Kyuubee less and less.
Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, up to episode 3
Against all odds, Itoshiki & Fuura manage to do some good deeds. People still behave in incomprehensible ways.
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt episodes 11-13 (review)
Episodes 11 and 12 are the usual randomness. Episode 13 would be a story-arc-end, if there had been any arc to begin with. Half of the premises are implied, and a seconds season in promised.
This is a live-action movie, not an animation. It tells more-or-less the same story as the first season of the anime series of the same name. The acting is rather average and the pacing is horribly slow. The visuals are quite well done, though, and the aliens look alien enough.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, up to episode 8 (review)
I'm not going to put plot spoilers here, but I have to say that we guessed some of the big twists an episode or two in advance, mostly by assuming that Kyuubee is way more evil than we thought he could be. Right on the money…
Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu episode 1
10 years old slapstick-comedy series, I had forgotten the sheer craziness of it.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, to the end (review)
Oh my. They won. Kyuubee was even more of a bastard that we could have imagined. And Homura's backstory is a very good one. Just watch this series!
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Yes, really. Not anime, not even old enough (it's from 1995!) to excuse the ugly props and the confusing story line. Also, the music was quite horrible and out of place, I hope it's just the edition we had. Quite the waste of time.
Very nice mini-series, from the same author as Pale Cocoon (see below), on the possible social consequences of the introduction of Asimov-style humanoid robots.
The episodes of this series were watched thanks to crunchyroll, an ad-supported streaming service for recent anime titles, with English subtitles.
Detroit Metal City, episodes 1 to 4.
Shy, melodic-songs loving boy becomes the frontman for a death metal band. Bad things happen. Hilarity ensues.
Short OVA, about the reconstruction of history through restoration of ancient archives. A few centuries in the future. Not a totally original premise, but an interesting take on it.
Detroit Metal City, episodes from 5 to the end.
More bad things, more hilarity. Worthy of been watched. Once.
Summary of the series, with some added details, and an almost-explanation of some unclear points, during the ending credits.
Meitantei Holmes, episode 10
Yes, a random episode. And we chanced upon the one from which most of the scenes in the opening titles are taken.
Just two people, we watched a few music videos that were mostly forgettable. Nothing interesting happened.
Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Jo and Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Ha
We watched the first two movies of the new Evangelion. The story matches quite closely the anime series from 1996, especially at the beginning. Some events are changed significantly, but the "feeling" is the same. We'll have to wait almost two years before we'll get the final (fourth!) movie…
Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho
Movie written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Alternate history SF, with dreams and quantum mumbo-jumbo. As in other works of his, the main focus in on the characters' growth and interactions. Slow and short on explanations, but worth the time.
Kachou Ouji: Hard Rock Save the Space first episode
A salaryman with an exceedingly sad life get accosted by strange women who want him to perform the songs he was famous for when he was a rock star. There might be aliens involved.
Dai Mahou Touge, all of it.
Another "magical girl". Heavy violence: if the main character can't win by magic, she wins by beating her opponents into a pulp. Not recommended for the faint of heart; others will laugh.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni first 8 episodes.
An isolated village, mysterious murders and disappearances. The story runs, with some significant differences, six times during the series. We've watched the first two "repetitions", and we're still not sure what's going on. We know this: we weren't bored at all. Even if it does feel like watching someone play a murder mystery game over and over (the series is based on such a game, and it shows).
Movie clearly directed by Mamoru Oshii, about life and war. Very slow, but with interesting insights.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni episodes 9-13
One more run through the events, with even more differences. Is the main character completely crazy?
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni episodes 14-15
Some back-story. I still can't understand where the whole thing is going.
The latest Ghibli movie, see also my review
Shinichi Hiromoto wrote this complicated and meandering story of a schoolgirl in Hell. It's got some attempt at ideas about consensual realities, but it's confusing and it feels way too long.
Very funny adaptation of Ryuusuke Mita's manga, too bad they ony made two episodes.
Very confused story, badly developed, with random mixing of unrelated events.
Sora no Woto, first 2 episodes
Switzerland, after a very long war, a military post is held by young girls, who play music. Not sure where it's going, but it's very pretty to look at.
Idol Defence Force Hummingbird
Military defence has been outsourced to the private sector; only the idol/showbiz companies were willing to take it up. So we have idols who pilot fighter planes. Slow and not particularly interesting, surprisingly made in the early '90s: it feels at least ten years older.
Penguindrum, first 16 episodes.
A complicated story of siblings, identity, destiny, and penguins. I wrote a review.
Kill me baby, first 3 episodes.
Very random slapstick comedy: a stupid schoolgirl, her assassin classmate, and a visiting ninja. Short sketches, easy laughs.
Bog standard RPG converted to anime. Easy watching with some laughs.
Very nice story about raising children and chosing our own life.
Comedy / farce about high school thugs. I watched it for the first time years ago, and it still cracks me up
Jesus and Buddha living together in a rental flat in Japan. Funny, but we lost all the Buddha in-jokes, and the pacing of the story is uneven.