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|2012-07-17, 15:51
|Link #1
Blooming on the mountain
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light....
Summer 2012 General Impressions Thread: Post Your Opinion and Grade...
Well to quote a certain individual:
Well, since I finally finished watching all the shows I was curious about (although with the exception of Ebiten: Kouritsu Ebi Sugawa Koukou Tenmonbu), so I figured it I may as well start out with my own grading.
BTW these are in no particular order here....
A List (seriously interested in and actively following):
- Hyouka (carryover)
- Natsuyuki Rendezvous [such a beautiful series that is both reserved and almost elegant in a quiet sort of way]
- Joshiraku [prolly the series I was most curious about before the season began - it has delivered for me in a big way]
B List (interested in and following):
- Accel World (carryover)
- Tari Tari [a good and "breezy" series that is well done]
- Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita [very enjoyable series that is a little ... umm ... out of the ordinary, though in an effective and thought provoking way without being offensive or pretentious - very near to being on the A List]
- Kingdom [unexpectedly enjoying this one, although the cgi annoys me at times]
- Moyashimon Returns [prolly my biggest surprise of the season - I had not watched season 1 and had no idea what to expect]
- Dog Days Dash [I really enjoyed season 1 and season 2 is more of the same]
- Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate [was really looking forward to this one, and it has delivered in a quiet and maybe even ... subdued, in a good way?]
- Kokoro Connect [did not quite know what to expect of this one, but thus far has been pretty good]
- Sword Art Online [another solid series like Accel World]
C List (mildly interested in and following):
- Rinne no Lagrange S2 [more of the same from season 1 - enjoyable but ... oh well]
- Chitose Get You! [cute and not as risque as I thought they would try to be]
- Furusato Saisei Nippon no Mukashibanashi (carryover)
- Shirokuma Cafe (carryover)
- Uchuu Kyodai (carryover)
- Yurumates 3Dei+ (carryover ... of sorts)
Still on trial watch list: Kono Naka ni Hitori Imouta ga Iru
Tried out and not interested: Yuri Yuri 2, Utakoi, Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, Muv Luv Alternative - Total Eclipse [too scary! ], Campione, La storia della Arcana Famiglia, Binbougama-ga
Curious to try out: Ebiten: Kouritsu Ebi Sugawa Koukou Tenmonbu
Older series still being subbed: Hyouge Mono, Showa Monogatari
|2012-07-17, 22:26
|Link #2
The iDOL(ove Live!)M@STER
The only thing I'm currently watching at this point is YuruYuri♪♪. So far I've found myself cracking up more than I was with the first season and it really seems like they're going to play up Kyouko X Yui which is awesome. I'm definitely going to watch Tari Tari and Rinne no Lagrange II when they finish though.
|2012-07-18, 02:53
|Link #3
The Voice of Reason
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 42
Name of Series: Arcana Famiglia
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 8/10
Comments: Looks interesting, main girl is hella cute and having Mamiko Noto voicing her is added bonus
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Binbougami ga!
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 10/10
Comments: This show is hilarious
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Campione!
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 8/10
Comments: This show looks to have a lot of potential. I hope they don't mess this up later on.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Chitose Get You!
Episodes Watched: 3
Rating: 8/10
Comments: If they made this show twice as long, I think a lot of the jokes would come over better. Still, I enjoy it more than RecoRan from last season(though it's ahrd to make something worse than that IMO).
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 8/10
Comments: Falls well within my expectation, which is a good thing.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Dog Days'
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 9/10
Comments: Took everything that made S1 good, and made it better with the new addition to the cast.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Ebiten
Episodes Watched: 1
Rating: 9/10
Comments: Has a very SnI vibe to it, which I liked. Too bad the show is low quality and hardly any group is interested in it (probably for obvious reasons).
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep (assuming the only subber so far doesn't quit).
Name of Series: Hagure Yuusha no Esthetica.
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 8/10
Comments: Nothing really special about this show, but the MC makes a world of difference.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Episodes Watched: 3
Rating: 10/10
Comments: This show is weird as hell, but everything in it works very well.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Joshiraku
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 9/10
Comments: Most references fly well over my head, but the girls are funny nonetheless. The ED may very well become the best of this season, if only because it's so damn catchy.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 6/10
Comments: Though episode 2 was better than episode 1, I don't really know where this show wants to take me.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep (for now)
Name of Series: Kokoro Connect
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 9/10
Comments: The idea of five teens swapping personalities with each other is a very interesting premise.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 6/10
Comments: The weakest of all the Summer shows so far
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep (for now)
Name of Series: Oda Nobuna no Yabou
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 8/10
Comments: I'm not familiar with Japan's history, but this looks like an interesting show. The main guy does his best to fit in and doens't seem all that bothered to be stuck in the past.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Sword Art Online
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: 10/10
Comments: This will probably be THE show to look out for this season.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Tari Tari
Episodes Watched: 3
Rating: 10/10
Comments: I love this show so far. All character are likable and it looks gorgeous.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Yuri Yuri S2
Episodes Watched: 3
Rating: 9/10
Comments: I loved S1, so I doubt I'm going to be disappointed with S2.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Continued from last season:
Name of Series: Hyouka
Episodes Watched: 13
Rating: 8/10
Comments: It's gotten more interesting over the past few weeks, but I'm still not 100% sold on it.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Phi Brain S2
Episodes Watched: 14
Rating: 8/10
Comments: S1 was slightly better, but that may just be the novelty wearing off. I do hope Nonoha's role becomes more important, though.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
|2012-07-18, 08:18
|Link #5
Join Date: Mar 2006
Binbougami and Jinrui are great. I can't say that for the rest of the season, which ranges from generic to bleh. Compared to last season there's just so much less to look forward to, but at least there's some carryovers from last season to fill in that gap, like Accel World and Rinne no Lagrange.
|2012-07-18, 08:44
|Link #6
Senior Member
Name of Series: Accel World
Episodes Watched: 14
Rating: B+
Comments: A very fun and well-paced show with good series concepts, a superb female lead, nice character designs (for the MMO side of things), and good action scenes. The male lead is occasionally a bit infuriating to watch/listen to (he does cry a lot), but he's Ok on the whole.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Hyouka
Episodes Watched: 13 (plus 11.5)
Rating: B+
Comments: Typically great KyoAni animation/artistic attention to detail. Good chemistry between the four main characters. Nice atmosphere. Occasionally a bit inane, but nothing too severe.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Episodes Watched: 3
Rating: B
Comments: First two episodes were excellent. Third was a bit more straightforward, and less imaginative/amusing, but it was still a decent watch. Pretty good comedy show.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Kokoro Connect
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: B-
Comments: 1st episode felt a bit off to me, but 2nd episode was very good. Excellent series premise. I like Iori and Inaba. Male characters are a bit 'meh' for me.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Muv-Luv Alternative
Episodes Watched: 3
Rating: B
Comments: I really liked the first two episodes, but the third was slightly disappointing. Still, a solid sci-fi/action mecha show. In a season where there's not a lot of these, it fills a real niche for me.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Sword Art Online
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: B+
Comments: Excellent premise. Excellent BGM. Good character designs and visuals. Good action scenes. It does sometimes give me a sense of unrealized potential, though.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Tari Tari
Episodes Watched: 3
Rating: A-
Comments: Lovely, lively show so far. Good main cast. Quirky unpredictability. One of the better "Slice of High School Life" shows, imo. My favorite show of the season at this point, but things could change.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
|2012-07-22, 01:07
|Link #7
Hiding Under Your Bed
Join Date: May 2008
Kingdom - A
I'm generally a sucker for historical fiction, and while I really don't give two hoots about Chinese history, the extreme lack of remotely compelling historical anime in recent years has probably elevated this series higher than it would if I had watched it a few years ago.
Rinne no Lagrange Season 2 - D
I didn't care for season one, and the first episode of season two was essentially season one. This is not the type of mecha show I will ever hold up as a shining example of the genre, though I'm old enough to know this particular amalgam will be a big hit nonetheless.
Maybe if I felt the singing was actually good I'd give it a higher grade, and PA Works seems to have an issue with making the same anime, over and over and over again, visually at least. How boring. Though, I'm sure I'd love the constant repeat if this was my type of thing. Perspectives, eh?
La storia della Arcana Famiglia - C
Fairly generic action/adventure fare. I'll probably marathon it at a later date, when I am at a loss of anything to watch, as it really has no hook at all to leave me waiting in anticipation for the next week to come.
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita - A+
Chitose Get You!! - I have absolutely no intention of watching this.
Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse - B
It's incredibly rare for me to give a positive nod towards an eroge-turned-anime. That alone makes this show remarkable. It's too early to say whether this ends up being memorable, but if it can continue to deliver a war story full of death and the least amount of boob-shaking as one can expect from eroge-source material, it could be a winner.
Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi - A
If it wasn't for Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, this would be my favorite non-actiony show of the season, and it came as a complete surprise. For some reason I thought it was a boy's love show (I blame the animation), and had no intention of watching it.
Yuruyuri ♪♪ - I have no intention of watching this.
Binbougami ga! - C
It's moderately funny. Kind of like Ben-To. But, it's also incredibly vapid, and the animation is mediocre, which generally doesn't bother me, but when you're a vapid show, everything counts.
Moyashimon Returns - C-
There was something charming about Moyashimon. At the time, I'd have given it an A. I've had to fight sleep watching this sequel, and am not connecting in any way to the show, despite my own background in microbiology. Yawn.
Natsuyuki Rendezvous - B+
A nice romance that we haven't seen in a while in the noitaminA slot.
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - I have no intention of watching this.
Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! - Ditto
Joshiraku - ??
Haven't watched this yet. I generally enjoy gag comics-turned-anime though.
Hagure Yuusha no Estetica - ??
Haven't seen it yet, though I can probably guess my reaction towards what looks to be another incredibly generic school/harem/male-lead fighting show.
Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai - ??
Haven't seen it yet, and am not sure if it's another eroge-like anime, or a parody. If the latter, I might be interested.
Campione! - C
Generic. Not much else to say. One of those shows I'll end up digesting anyways, without ever going back for seconds (or thirds, etc).
Tanken Driland - B
That 'B' is from the strength of chibi-power.
DOG DAYS' - I have zero intention of ever watching this.
Sword Art Online - B
Solid show so far, though the lead needs some backstory fast, because his actions stand in stark contrast to his seeming need to be a loner. On another note, no MMO-inspired/like anime has captured actual MMO players as well as this show has so far. It's certainly not perfect, but it's a far sight better than anything else that has come before. I feel like the writer has actually spent more than just casual time playing MMOs. I also really like the combat system behind this fictional one.
Kokoro Connect - B+
See, if you're going to do a seemingly generic school club show, you should have a real wrench thrown into the picture, and this show does just that. It's still too early to tell which direction it's going with the whole body-swapping; light amusing distraction, or...the other way, but it's nice to see a school club show not just going through the motions.
Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II - ??
I never managed to finish the first season, so I doubt I'll watch the second. I almost want to make a second attempt, if only due to the incredibly...rabid fan response to a certain fansub group that pretty much embodies the worst of our community. The response, not the group.
Oda Nobuna no Yabou - C-
Yawn. At least the male lead isn't a whiny emo.
Hakuouki Reimeiroku - ??
I've had trouble with this series' progenitors due to the pretty-boy aspect. I may, one day, finish watching them, and then try this one out.
Ebiten: Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmonbu - I think I'd rather sniff mustard mixed with hot sauce up my nose than watch this.
I'm very, very, very surprised at this season. I had initially thought there wasn't a thing worth watching, and that it would be the worst season of anime ever (or at least rival last winter), but I've been happily proved wrong.
|2012-07-22, 18:12
|Link #8
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Austria
Continued from last season/second seasons:
Accell World: I don't know what it is that keeps me going, but I'm sort of enjoying it. My interest has vaned fairly quickly after I've been positively surprised in the beginning. Not my genre; not my character types; certainly not my combat avatar style. I think I may stay for the character design. Hm? (6/10)
Furusato Saisei Nippon no Mukashi Banashi: Animated picture book. Cute and charming. I love, love, love the opening. (7/10)
Hyouka: The longer it goes on, the better I like it. That's definitely better than the other way round. (8/10)
Rinne no Lagrange ~ 2nd season: Ah well. I like the characters, so I'm probably going to finish it. Shame I don't like the show much (5/10)
Sengoku Collection: Oddly fun. Very uneven; potentially great, potentially awful. Mostly okay. Style continues flawlessly from the last season, so what can I say? (7/10)
Shirokuma Café: Exactly my kind of humour. (8/10)
Yurumates: Occasionally funny. (7/10)
Yuru Yuri ~ 2nd season: Almost as fun as the first season. Little else to say. (7/10)
New Arrivals I must finish no matter what:
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita: I love the weirdness, and it's essential to the concept, too. The idyllic pastoral look and soft colours give a nice contrast. Love the snarky lead. The fairies are appropriately creepy. I predict this year's second master piece (after last season's Nazo no Kanojo X).
Joshiraku: Good god, I'm unreasonably fond of this show. I don't get all of the jokes, but when I get them, they crack me up (the dog-kanji joke in the first episode!). It doesn't matter if you don't get all the jokes, either, because the show - as it itself informs you - contains unobtrusive dialogue so you can admire the cuteness of the girls. No complaints from me. (9/10)
Natsuyuki Rendesvouz: A very intriguing romance, actually based on the personalities of the characters. I don't like the male lead, but even he is interesting. (8/10)
New Arrivals I'll certainly finish:
Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi: A quirky rendition of love poems and their context. I like it. I sort of think of it as a companion piece to Furusato Saisei; both are very well executed cultural shows. I like that the show doesn't romanticise the period love more than it has to. Good job. (7/10)
Hakuouki Reimeiroku: I liked the first Hakuouki; the second season was a bit uneven, good when good, but boring when not. This is easily my favourite installment so far. (7/10)
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate: This seems to turn out better than I thought. I like the Amagami-character design. The personalities are stylish and distinctive. The biggest surprise is that all the elements of the title seem to have actual plot relevance. (7/10)
Kokoro Connect: I expected slapstick comedy and got a character study. Something about the K-on character desingn rubs me the wrong way. Tendency: rising enjoyment. (7/10)
Sword Art Online: Has potential, but it's no .hack//sign (even though it, too, has a Yuki Kajiura soundtrack). (6/10)
Tari Tari: Unsure what to think of it. It's fun. It's nothing special, but lovingly crafted, with attention to detail. (I'm Austrian: the German letter actually reads like something someone who's lived in Austria might write.) It's Hanasaku Iroha's less ambitious but more charming sister. (7/10)
New Arrivals I'll probably finish:
Binbougami ga!: The humour is hit and miss with me. I do like the two main characters. Let's see. (7/10)
Chitose Get You: Cute, but not too immersive. (6/10)
La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia: Stylish multi-character fun. (7/10)
No more ratings from now on.
New Arrivals on probation:
Campione: Too generic to be really interesting. Chances are slim.
Dakara Boku we H ga Dekinai: I sort of believe in the potential of the concept, and I think they're doing well with it. But the weekly gratuitious nudity is just so clichéd that it's getting on my nerves. Also, the show skews too much towards monster breasts. A show like this should go for more variety.
Kono Naka ni, Imouto ga Iru!: Nice ecchi comedy, but I don't like ecchi. Depends on how much the clichés will grate.
Oda Nobuna no Yabou: Meh, of all the Sengoku girl's show I've watched this is the least appealing. I didn't get past episode one of the Samurai Girls, so it beats that. Only watched episode 1 so far, but I can't say "dropped" yet.
New Arrivals, Tried and Dropped:
Ebiten (boring), Hagura Yuusha no Estetica (I hate the macho vibes this gives me with a passion), Muv Luv (looks like military propaganda via faceless opponents and sentimental values - no thank you)
|2012-07-23, 22:04
|Link #9
Loves the Experience
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Earth...hopefully
Anyways, my thoughts are here: http://wp.me/p2vp1c-cz
The only other thing I'll add is that Humanity Has Declined is really unsubtle with its satire and Taichi from Kokoro Connect is such a shit character that anything he does rings as hollow or false. Seriously, I want to like Kokoro Connect like other people, but those two males are just so awful.
|2012-08-02, 14:26
|Link #12
Have some salt
Decided to put anime on hiatus; no anime isn't bad or anything, but I just didn't feel like going for a full load this season.
Name of Series: Sword Art Online
Episodes Watched: 4
Rating: B
Comments: They did a really good job of world building. The author, who also did Accel World, sure manages to make a lot of characters that are interesting and also look nice as well. The music is very solid as well, though at times the anime does seem like it's going too fast, so certain events that should have an emotional impact, don't have as much. But I think it's showcased an MMO world far better than any other anime I've seen around.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Muv-Luv
Episodes Watched: 1
Rating: ?
Comments: It seems ok, the intro episode also showcased the world it was in, however it wasn't enough to hold my interest. The characters feel too throwaway, and me being spoiled by stuff like Char's Counterattack and Gundam Unicorn means that my standards for mecha will be unreasonably high for a while
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Stall
Name of Series: Binbougami ga!
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: B-
Comments: Well, mostly for the Hanazawa voicing, but the Gintama team really knows how to throw in slapstick and humor in. It's not the kind of series I'm intent on following, but I have no objection with watching it to kill some time.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Tari Tari
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: B
Comments: The uglier version of Hana Iro proves to be the one with the more solid storytelling, and contains a fairly decent cast. The script is solid, and the comedy is spot on. Wakana in particular draws my interest, since her character seems to have much more to be explored. It's just those character designs are kinda meh. I said a slimmer, more tightly written version of Hana Saku Iroha could be anywhere up to a 8 or 9/10 anime for me, and let's see if they can do this. Oh PA, don't botch this I didn't know you can get so far without that perv of a writer on your staff.
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Name of Series: Jinrui
Episodes Watched: 2
Rating: B-
Comments: It's umm.... a very creative and original series. The fairies are kinda like the showstealers the penguins were in Penguindrum. A few chuckles there, but no major lols were to be had. Yea, it's supposed to be subtle and deadpan, but everything, including the lead is a bit too deadpan for my tastes. Then again, I seem to have really high standards for satire too, so YMMV
Status (Keep/drop/stall): Keep
Last edited by Archon_Wing; 2012-08-02 at 16:01.
|2012-08-06, 11:59
|Link #13
Title Binbogami-ga!:
Episodes Watched: 5
Rating: B
Comments: Of the two comedy shows I'm following this season this one is definitely the more laugh out loud funny. It also manages to do the whole "perfect chick" trope well for a change by making her not actually perfect at all, just really really lucky. The show often feels like as much of duel between it's two principle characters seiyuu Kana Hanazawa and Yumi Uchiyama for most silly possible voices, which only adds to the pretty amusing feel of it all. Still some jokes like the S&M dog and perverted priest are a little worn and don't add much to the shows humor quotient.
Title: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Episode: Watched 4
Rating B/B-
Comments: The hipster anime of the season without a doubt and a pretty recent addition to my watching list, but ultimately does manage to speak to my inner love of social commentary and deadpan humor pretty well if only very recently. Episode 04 was by far my favorite and the first time I really became intrigued by an episode in how it both a visual and metaphorical satire of the whole quest for ratings and popularity that absolutely plagues the creativiton process of multimedia in the modern area. This was the first time the show ever felt like it really managed to address the nature of it's title in that humanity has declined in some manner culturally since the turn of the millenium, something I hold to be absolutely 100% true.
Title: Sword Art Online
Episodes watched: 5
Rating: B-
Comments: Originally Anime Jesus, then the biggest disappointment since Guilty Crown, then just a good show with some major early pacing issues. So far SAO has failed to capture that "must watch the next episode" and almost pinpoint perfect pacing that it's sister series Accel World has, but I think that owes to the nature of it's episodic early chronologically ordered story arcs more than the quality of the narrative itself. It's hard to really get into a show when every episode is it's own self contained entity while I'm finding each individual story pretty solid and it's jarring to see the situation appear to completely change every week, though here unlike Guilty Crown which had the same problem it's at least somewhat forgiveable because of the time skips inbetween episodes and not because of just indecisive plotting and character development. I just hope that we're out of the side stories soon enough because as I said I was pretty invested in this shows sister series by episode 4 and so far this one is looking like it's going to take a little longer yet. That said it's not exactly uncommon for me to not find myself more invested in a show until into it's second half, I just hope a) it manages to really hook me sooner than that and b) it doesn't leave me just at the cusp of being truly invested in it's narrative from beginning to end like a certain series about Penguins and Diaries.
Title: Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse
Rating: C+
Comments: Has some interesting ideas like race relations and humanity making it's last stand against a seemingly insurmountable foe, but ultimately wastes a lot of it on cheesy characterizations and near constant fanservice and silly dialogue when not in combat sequences or whenever anyone other than Yuuya and Yui are talking. Fortunately they do tend to be talking a lot and are slowly revealing themselves to be motivated by more than just petty notions of nationalistic pride, but rather the scarring events that shaped them. I wish I could say the rest of the cast shared the same level of depth, but alas so far they mostly make for opportunistic gag/fanservice objects and seem to be there strictly to fill the necessary national stereotypes and fanservice/personality tropes. You've got the feisty South Asian, the busty blonde Nordic chick, the busty icy Russian, the outgoing loli Russian, and the horndog Italian playboy by my count. If any of them is likely to get a more in depth character arc later on right now it seems most likely to be the Scarlet twins cause of the huge veil of secrecy surrounding their misison and abilities. Also this show suffers from some pretty brutal issues with keeping it's character art on model a good junk of the time, which is kind of unnacceptable for a 26 episode series that clearly should have a budget. I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect that out of a Satelight effort though.
Title:Tari Tari
Rating: C+
Episodes Watched: 1
Comments: Watched an episode of this with someone, which is basically the only reason I watched it since this is normally not my thing and as is usual with the cute girls doing cute things shows I found it safe and harmless, but for a nice change not entirely soulless. The show is pretty consistent in it's excpected laid back tone, but the characters and the setting felt more alive than I'm used to seeing from this kind of show and it doesn't feel like it was commercialized or trying to be more meaningful or poignant than it is. It didn't grab me like Chihayafuru did with the careful and deliberate intense emotional investment it built for it's cast even early on amidst an otherwise pretty laid back atmosphere, but then again I only watched one episode and for all I know it gets more dramatic, but alas it's just not my thing and I don't have time for it now so I'll wait and see if I ever want to pick it back up.
Title: Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere
Rating: B
Episodes Watched: 3
Comments: Still bizzare as all hell but still as entertaining as all hell and never really lets up on being itself. This season brought a new and expectedly zany cast of colorful (this almost feels like an understatement) characters into the fray in the England faction which in a twist that is somewhat remiscent of G Gundam actually lives on a floating sky island shaped pretty much like the U.K and in buildings remiscent of what you'd expect to see in a movie based on a Charles Dickins novel. In short it's like retro-future London. The animation quality is definitely above average, easily rivalling and arguably topping pretty much every other action anime this season in terms of things happening on screen per second per episode. It's still plagued by IMO unfunny and just plain raunchy/gross fanservice scenes that could potentially make the screenplay writers of Muv-Luv blush, but it still has that surprising level of depth to it's narrative even if the manner it which it usually creates said depth is pretty much silly in and of itself if that makes any sense. In short this show is definitely one that works better if you don't take it all that seriously and accept that most things that happen in this show happen because they are amusing and bizzare but ultimately grounded in the shows own internal logic, like say the main character having been naked since the start of the season because he literally is not capable of nor allowed to feel shame or he'll die.
|2012-08-27, 07:21
|Link #14
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Dakara, Hagure, Campione, Kono Hitori anime review Spoilers for non-viewers
After this week of the new season i bring interesting thoughts about 4 of the harems from this season. I cant play H, Kono Hitori, Campione, and Hagure Yuusha. Each of these harems take extremely interesting ideas and if u didnt know the stories you'd expect one thing but each has lost the point that made it interesting.
Disclaimer: info from the LN isnt really used so there are elements missing so i apologize for that but this is mainly an anime review with small LN usage.
1st is Campione. If u didnt read the LN or know the story based on only the previews its about a young man thrust into the world of a God Slayer by mere coincedence. After watching the first episode you see he becomes a campione and his job is to stop Heretic Gods from causing chaos. However after that the story takes a massive drop in effectiveness. Instead of a youth well ready for his role as God Slayer Godou quickly becomes mule to the plans of the sultry Erica Blandelli. Whose attitude about Godou took a total 180 after he gained his power. Instead of Gods all he gains is women who each have a painfully irritating quality. Mariya Yuri a Hime-Miko whose beauty is supressed by the fact she's so painfully pure she cant even tell what her feelings are and is made awkward from the fact her nagging is nothing more then jealousy towards somebody able to show her affection unlike her. Liliana Krancjar is next. While she's a rival of Erica's she is a polar opposite. For those who havent read the LN ignore this
Spoiler for Lilana Future moments:
2nd is dakara Boku or I cant play H.
This one is by far the biggest letdown of the entire summer series IMO. You get Ryousuke a normal boy visited by Lisara a lovely demon whose trying to find the legendary hero. This story would normally be extremely interesting but we run into 5 distinctive problems. 1st. Ryousuke's power is believed to come from his perverted nature which is surprising since the strongest trigger for the series seems to be affections towards a girl whose lacking in breasts which surprises everyone. The 2nd is Cule. Cule is shown to be a rival of lisara. Now at first Cule seems to want to defeat lisara and show her strength which i was okay with. But after her defeat she's taken that role off the table completely. Now she's merely a girl charmed by the oddities of our Main Hero and seems to have forgotten about lisara completely. 3rd is Iria. Now iria is shown to be another rival of lisaras but her role has lacked also. At first Iria was shown to be an idol in the human world who was revealed to be a shinigami much like Lisara. Other then her attempts to make Lisara angry and steal the special target she's brought nothing but another big breasted girl to the harem. Hopefully her role continues but so far nothing really interesting as happened. 4th is Miina. Miina is a complete shocker in this series as the childhood friend of Ryousuke's. So far miina's role has been a complete debby downer. While it is revealed only recently that she has confessed her feelings for Ryousuke she not only doesnt seem bothered by Lisara's affections for Ryousuke but Cule the girl who was originally using her has fallen for her also and has seemingly taken the last place role. Her only shining moment was getting kidnapped . The final distinct problem is the storyline itself. Okay so the fanservice and the harem route arent a big deal. But the whole special target thing is. First off Ryousuke gets power and is shown eventually to be somewhat interesting. But after the revalation that Ryousuke has both halves of a legendary sword that could save the underworld from disaster HOW DOES LISARA NOT REALIZE RYOUSUKE IS WHO SHE WAS LOOKING FOR.:frustrate d:
This gets a 3/5 but could easily jump if the last few episodes are done well.
Now Kono no Hitori. This was easily one of the worst harems i've ever seen but not because of the storyline which was interesting but because of what they've done with the episodes. Okay so Kid inherits massive company and must go to school to find his ultimate wife okay that might be interesting but here comes the twist. dun dun dunnnnn. His little sister whose identity is unknown also goes to the school and wants to marry him. . So now he doesnt know if the girls that fawn to him are after him cause of his money or cause he's her brother and she wants to marry him. Add in that two of them are admitted childhood friends 1 girl knows the answer but wont reveal it and cross-dressing guard who pretends he's a guy in school and is butt naked at home and im left going .
Kono hitori gets a 2/5
Finally hagure Yuusha.
This series is refreshing at best but controversial as well.
Ousawa akatsuki has come back from another world after slaying the demon king and goes to Babel Academy a place where many students who've also returned from other worlds goes. He quickly makes an enemy in the student council (specifically haruka and Kyouya) and an ally in Kaidou. But there's one other interesting element. Myuu the daughter of the demon king has come along and she's made friends with the lesbian Chikage and the class rep Kazuha. Now Ousawa was a rogue hero so his ethics are a bit in question.... scratch that he has none. From stealing underwear from girls around him to sleep groping Myuu its clear he has an interest in the ladies. That is the refreshing part. Most harem leads of the recent few years are pansy's including a few from this season namely godou of campione. But whats ironic about all of this is that his harem has actually grown the class rep Kazuha seems to have interest as well as the supposed lesbian Chikage. Even Haruka a student council member whose constantly the victim of his attacks has been charmed by him. Even myuu the girl who is suppose to be playing his sister (Nobody other then him knows the truth) seems to be gaining affections for our badboy despite his perverted nature.
Now to the controversial part. Its amazing with all the censorship on air that a character is allowed to do many of the things akatsuki does. Even myself who has little problem is surprised Japan would air a show on Television with this kind of activity. While it is borderline hentai with many of the things it does most people are furious that a character does what he does. While some are pleased that for once we have a character who can do incredible things and doesnt flinch at the sight of bare boobs. Hagure Yuusha is refreshing and disturbing at the same time 4.5/5
So there you have it tell me what you think and i hope to bring more interesting stuff soon. By the way can we get a social group for Hagure and dakara or at least a sub-forum for each since they have plenty to work with.
|2012-08-27, 12:07
|Link #15
150% done
Join Date: Feb 2012
In defense of Campione, Hagure, and Dakara (haven't seen the last one), they are all 12-episode anime trying to shove in several volumes worth of content. The major selling point of harems is the antics of the girls surrounding the MC, so they try to rush things to get all the girls onto the scene at once.
Spoiler for About LN (rant):
|2012-08-31, 12:08
|Link #17
Loves the Experience
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Earth...hopefully
Here are my updated thoughts for the summer season as of the end of August: http://wp.me/p2vp1c-lT
|2012-09-02, 21:30
|Link #18
Licensed Hunter-a-holic
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 30
I've stopped watching anime for about two months due to some turns my life took about two months ago, but now that I sort of gotten back into the groove of things (somewhat) and I thought I would writer down some of my thoughts on the shows that I've been tuning in to (and the shows that managed to stick along for the ride). Also, with the majority of the summer line up coming to an end in a month or so (along with some longer shows) I figured it might just be the best time to do this.
Excluding long running shows that I'm still catching up on (Saint Seyia Omega, Kingdom, Sapce Bros and Sket Dance (which I'm sad to hear that is about to end soon D: ) )
Name of series: Hunter X Hunter
Episodes watched: 44
Rating: A++
I've been an avid, long time fan of HunterXHunter. I had gotten into the series via the '99 anime, and from there on gotten into the manga and never looked back. Yoshihiro Togashi always had the talent necessary to take simple storylines and concepts and transform them into engrossing tales of complex events and lovable characters. I've seen it happen with YuYu Hakusho, and I've seen it again in HunterXHunter, only this time it's amplified in a way that makes the former, a great series, look amateurish.
I was a little concerned about how the quality of the remake early on, but week after week it has continued to prove to me that all those past concerns I had were misplaced and now, almost a year in, not only has the remake managed to make me remember all the great things I loved about this series in the past, but also make me fall in love even harder with it.
Superb on all accounts.
Name of Series: Tari Tari
Episodes watched: 10
Rating: A-
The biggest draws for me when it came was that it had Ayahi Takagaki and had a musical focus, and it's similarity to Hanasaku Iroha. Needless to say, I ended up enjoying it a lot thanks to it being similar to the latter, though the lack of Takagaki-san singing had been something on a loss for me. Still a pretty good and enjoyable show on all accounts, and I'm really liking the character driven nature of it.
Name for series: Hyou-Ka
Episodes watched:19
When I first started watching this show, it was due to how beautifully animated and vibrant it looked. After a while though I started to notice that it wasn't all that badly written either! After some more time I realized that I was really loving it to the point where I was tuning in every Sunday to see the newest episode, and thinking about importing the series.
The one series I had no idea I would like this much back when I first checked on it. Excellent audiovisuals, tightly written and surprisingly engaging story despite it not being grand, and a likable cast. The show has many great draw points, but the one I think I will remember always is for Orikei's development throughout the show from a smart but anti-social student into a more healthy, normal teenager with a good head on his shoulders.
And DEM EYES
Name for series: Eureka Seven AO
Episodes watched: 18
Rating: A+
I've been liking AO since the moment it started, for all the reasons I liked the original Eureka Seven and what it managed to present to me. The political intrigue, the mecha battles and designs (well, the secrets are kinda not all that well designed ...) and of course for Ao and the journey he was making throughout all this mind-boggling time/dimensional traveling adventure.
The show still manages to remain interesting and fun even this late into it, and I'm having a blast trying to figure what is going on and how does it make sense.
Name for series: Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
Episodes watched: 44
Rating: D+
It's been a long journey. There were a lot of rough patches when it comes to my relationship to AGE, mainly when it comes to the writing. Let's just say that my earlier assessment of Level 5 being great game creators but piss poor story tellers a year ago proved to be more than true, much to my disappointment since I had wished they would've managed to come out proving every person who wished them failure wrong, but so it goes.
It's not all bad, I guess, but I was expecting something better than this. It might have been foolish, since I was already knowledgeable about the story ''capabilities'' of Akihiro Hino, but I really hoped that he would manage to rise above all the illogical and stupid hatred the show had gotten. Disappointingly, he did not manage to do that.
Now before anyone misconstrue what I'm writing into just mindless bashing of the show, I need to say that the show had it's moments. Some episodes were really good on the emotional front, the battles had gotten a lot better by the end of the first Generation after being somewhat armature looking early on (though the show does suffer a little from some quality control here and there), to the point where the latest episodes are really nicely animated. The music, while not exactly up to the high standard that the franchise established for it's audio work, is still pretty fantastic and the usage of the tracks in the show had been top notch. So overall, there isn't anything wrong from the technical side of matters, and the show doesn't fall flat all the time (just most of the time).
Still, disappointment is really the word that seems to be the one on my mind when it comes to AGE, since when I first started the show I had high hopes it would be a really solid series. At most a good series, at the least a decent one. Instead I ended up with a really mediocre show in general with some good moment scattered here and there, a really interesting concept/premise and a lot of potential for greatness that it never managed to capitalize on.
Name for series: Horizon S2
Episodes watched: -
Rating: C+
I've been pretty carefree when it comes to this show, since it's not one of those shows where I'm that passionate about, but it and Accel World (which I had fallen behind and is now on my back burner for the time being) had proven to me to be generally really entertaining shows that I could tune in and come out being satisfied most of the time.
The last episode was I thought the best so far and I'm sort of looking forward to the conclusion of this season. Should be a lot of fun.
Name for series: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Episodes watched: 10
Rating: A
Seiji Kishi's anime of the season, and also a comedy so I had the feeling it was going to be great, if not decent at least since the man's forte had always been comedy. Hearing that it was a dark comedy made it all the better, since I've always loved dark comedies, and so when I got this recommended to me I already figured out that I would love it.
What really impresses me about this show is how profound it really is, on different levels that makes me enjoy in more ways than I thought I could've. I'm bracing my self for a final episode twist where everything goes to hell here.
Name for series: Joshiraku
Episodes watched: -
Rating: B
This show is simply hilarious to watch I don't know why, but it manage to tickle my funny bone in a way that makes me want to rewatch it again.
Not much to say on it other than I just think it's really funny lol
Name for series: Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
Episodes watched: -
Rating: B+
Something of a late arrival, since I sort of passed on it on first glance but then I heard some good things about it (and mentions of similarity to Mashiroiro Symphony) and looking at how nice the art was in the game (like, that was some really nice designs) I figured I might give it a try. So far, been liking a lot, and I can see it as being a really good romance series.
Spoiler for Shows on the back burner:
|2012-09-03, 08:33
|Link #19
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: NY
All I've listed is what I've been watching up to the current episode and will continue to watch. So it's title - rating and comment if any:
Arcana Famiglia - 4/10
Nothing of interest happens and I don't feel anything for the characters. I'm not sure where this is going, I misread this as something with shonen action I guess. Watch in spare time which is a lot in the summer's dead air.
Hagure Yuusha, Campione, Dakara Boku wa H ga Dekinai - 6/10
Nothing makes them really outstanding. They're all decent watches with decent entertainment. Just decent.
Chitose Get You! - 6/10
Funny, short, but I feel they waste precious seconds away sometimes. I enjoyed the other 3 minute shows Morita wa Mukuchi and Recorder to Randoseru more than this.
Muv Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse - 6-7/10
First 2 episodes reeled me in but I was disappointed with the lack of beta after. I'm sticking with to see if it'll get interesting frontline action, which seems to be starting up again.
Kingdom - 7/10
Story's good, characters are driven, interesting enemies, and nice gritty fights/battles = good shounen. Good OP & ED songs. It's a pity the CG animation is pretty bad and probably turning off viewers.
Tanken Driland - 7/10
Still in the introductory phase and it's looking good, so we'll see.
Binbougami Ga! - 8/10
Lots of comedic efforts by Binbougami and parodies aplenty.
Sword Art Online - 7-8/10
Storytelling's frustrating but the concept is very good. Things are picking up currently so it looks like it's getting better.
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita - 9/10
Easily the most amusing show of the summer. Catchy OP & ED. A great show and deserves the attention it's getting.
Eureka 7: AO - 8/10
Lots of things to puzzle over and keeps me watching.
Accel World - 8/10
Story's smoother than SAO.
Kuroko no Basuke - 9/10
Hunter x Hunter - 9/10
One Piece - 6/10
The animation quality of recent arc is lacking in action and appearance. Extended shots of and panning of still shots and too many off scene chatter makes the pacing of each episode just tortuous. I already wait to watch in batches and it still feels like it's dragging on and on. I wish they'd stop prolonging the arc, finish it and take a break so they can return to better quality.
|2012-09-04, 00:36
|Link #20
The Voice of Reason
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 42
I made some changes compared to last time. Arcana Famiglia, Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai, Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate, Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, Campione! and Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! are Stalled until I can either find time to watch them again, or when the Blu-Rays come out to relieve me of the pointless censorship.
Shows I"m still actively watching:
- Binbougami ga! (even with the added drama, it's still great)
- Chitose Get You! (getting better, now that the focus is back on Chitsoe trying to seduce that office worker again)
- Dog Days' (still enjoyable to watch, maybe eve m ore so than the first season)
- Ebiten (low quality, but good for a laugh every single time)
- Hyouka (has been growing on me long since, will be sad when it's gone)
- Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (will probably end up as the best show of this season for me)
- Joshiraku (despite hard to follow at times, I still love it)
- Kokoro Connect (also still going strong)
- Oda Nobuna no Yabou (I don't particularly care about the historical side, but what I see, I like)
- Phi Brain 2 (originality has worn of long ago, I doubt they can make more of it this without it getting old)
- Sword Art Online (not as good as I hoped it would be, though I like the growing relationship between Kirito and Asuna)
- Tari Tari (am a bit behind on this, but will have little trouble catching up soon enough, as I liked it up till where I left off)
I'll make a more detailed post, including ranking, when the season is over.
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Barri J. Gold
Chair of the Department of English
Associate Professor of English
Tel. 484-664-3313
Fax 484-664-3633
Office: Center for the Arts 270
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
- 1995: PhD, English Language and Literature, University of Chicago
- 1990: MA, English Language and Literature, University of Chicago
- 1988: BS, Physics, M.I.T.
Select Awards, Publications and Presentations:
Robert C. Williams Prize for Junior Faculty, 2002.
ThermoPoetics: Energy in Victorian Literature and Science, M.I.T. Press, 2010.
"The Consolation of Physics: Tennyson's Thermodynamic Solution." PMLA (May 2002).
"Reproducing Empire: Moreau and Others." Nineteenth-Century Studies 14 (2000).
"The Domination of Dorian Gray." Victorian Newsletter (1997).
"Embracing the Corpse: Discursive Recycling in Rider Haggard's She."
English Literature in Transition (1995).
Dr. Gold's primary field is Victorian British Literature and Science, but she is also a scholar in Gender Studies and Ecocriticism. With the publication of her book ThermoPoetics, she has been acknowledged internationally as leading scholar on nineteenth-century literature and physics. This work enables her to bring to Muhlenberg classes that are taught nowhere else, such as The Death of the Sun, which explores the literary development of energy concepts. As a long time reader of the sensation fiction and speculative fiction, she also teaches such courses as Gender, Sensation and the Novel and Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her interest in gender studies and women's fiction has recently has inspired her to teach a first-year seminar on transformations of the novel Jane Eyre as well as Reading Austen, which explores Jane Austen's novels in her time and in ours. Her current work in Victorian ecocriticism has been inspired by teaching such courses as Literature and the Environment and a recent Senior Seminar entitled Our Planets, Ourselves.

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AMC Discover Mills 18
5900 Sugarloaf Parkway,
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Opened December 17, 2003.
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AMC Discover Mills 18 has incorporated the latest innovative features in motion pictures today including: stadium seating, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound and AMC's exclusive High Impact Theater System with Tours compound-curved screen for maximum picture clarity and brilliance
18 theatres with stadium seating (with 18-inch risers for unobstructed viewing).
— AMC's exclusive LoveSeat-style seating featuring an extra six inches of leg room and armrests that lift up so viewers can "cozy up."
— Large, efficient concession stand featuring "Combo" offerings that provide top-quality brand selections at a value price.
— Digital sound in all auditoriums.
— Automated Box Office (ABO) for easy purchasing and advance ticket pick-up.
— AMC's signature "fast and friendly" service throughout the theatre.
Moviegoers at AMC Discover Mills 18 will experience the AMC difference in comfort, quality, service and convenience," said Phil Singleton, president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO)
The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of American Multi-Cinema, Inc. "The AMC brand means an inviting atmosphere, industry-leading amenities, and the highest quality film presentation, and it's a great fit with the exciting and unique shopping and leisure environment at Discover Mills."
This opened on December 17th, 2003. Ad in photo section and below AMC Discover Mills 18 opening Wed, Dec 17, 2003 – E7 · The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) · Newspapers.com
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Even Tila Tequila's own publicist doesn't want to deal with her anymore -- and we've learned she just quit, citing "recent events."
Jessica Cohen tells TMZ "Some matters need to remain private and away from media attention ... I realized we need to part ways while she deals with the loss of her fiancee."
Cohen's departure also means Tila's repping herself 'til she hires someone else.
This should be good.
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Betta's Water
When I got my betta (Tony) a year and a half ago I had him at work with me, he had treated city water. I have since left that job and brought him home. My hubby and I live on an acreage and our water comes from a well. The water from the well has quite high mineral content, we get rust-like streaks in the toilet bowl and if water is left on the drying cutlery it will leave a buildup of minerals.
Tony initially adjusted well to the change in water (8 months ago). Lately we notice he's been almost lethargic, he just sits on his plant and sleeps. I have taken in water samples and also bought water testing strips for at home. All of them say that the hardness is through the roof and the pH is a little high. I bought a solution that says it will bring the hardness and pH down but I notice that it's not really working that well.
Is there anything else I can do to bring the hardness down? Is this what is causing him to be lethargic? I have heard that betta's only live until about 2 years old, so could it be old age?
Thanks in advance!
What are your gH, kH, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and any other parameters you have information on? What is your betta housed in, a bowl or a tank, filtered or unfiltered?
Please do NOT attempt to lower the pH of your water with chemicals. The chemicals in products such as pH down generally consist of acid which can be dangerous to play with and will not stablize your water at a lower pH anyway. You can instead end up with pH fluctuations which are much more dangerous.
Your water may be to blame for your bettas behavior but it is not necessarily the gH or pH themselves. Most fish can adjust to a relatively high pH or gH. The things in your water CAUSING the higher pH and gH could be the issue.
If you have well water it could contain harmful contaminants. Even if you are just using the water for yourselves you may want to have a full test done by a lab to see what kind of metals and other contaminants are present.
If you do think your well water is the issue then it may be better for you to use RO/DI or distilled water and adjust the parameters yourself.
Note: you can NOT use straight RO or distilled water since there is no buffering capacity to stablize your pH. You will have to use a product such as RO RIGHT which contains necessary buffering and minerals, or experiment with baking soda to add buffering to your water. (I would recommend simply using RO RIGHT since it would be the most convenient and safest).
You can also try mixing distilled water with your well water for a short term solution. If nothing else it will at least lower the level of contaminants. Again, do NOT use straight distilled water, there is no buffering to stablize your pH.
Here is a simply explanation of kH, gH and pH
but there is much more to know than what is written there.
Of course, your water may not even be his issue. Maybe he's just bored. It's not really uncommon for a betta just to sit there when he's bored. He could be old or sick.
My first betta just died not that long ago at 2 yrs old, so they don't necessarily live that long. He was extremely healthy, lived in a filtered tank and had no issues whatsoever that we could see, he just died one day. Storebought bettas aren't really bred for health and longevity so don't feel too bad if yours doesn't have an extremely long life span.
Last edited by MyBirdIsEvil; June 25th, 2008 at 06:02 PM.
Tony is in a 3 gallon, filtered aquarium. We got him a 10 gallon aquarium, got it all ready for him and put him in it. He hated every second of being in that aquarium, he stayed at the top and would not even explore it. We took him out and put him back in his 3 gallon and he was happy again.
I'm sorry, I forgot to bring my test kit to work with me today so I'm unsure of the exact values for the KH and GH. I do, however, remember that the ammonia and nitrate levels are both zero and the pH is between 8-8.5. Which, by reading that site, I discovered has a direct relation to the elevated KH.
I agree that the well water could have some contaminants, I will have to do some research on where to take my water to get tested. I was considering getting some jugs and bringing home some city water from work and treating that to mix half and half with his water... like you said to decrease the level of contaminants.
Tony has been fine in the water up until about a month and a half ago. He may just be getting old :sad: but I understand that their lifespan isn't very long so I half expected it.
I'd like to get the water issue resolved, though, because I still have the 10 gallon aquarium up and running with nothing in it. I'd like to get some sort of fish for it to add some life to the living room. Obviously this is the same water so fixing Tony's water will also fix the 10 gallon.
Yeah I have a betta that oddly enough seems happier in a 2g unfiltered than a 20g w/ filter. I do change the water 100% every day on his tank since it's not filtered, but it's only 2g so not a big deal to me (not when I have so many other tanks I have to mess with anyway lol).
Keep in mind that if you mix distilled or lower pH water with your bettas water the pH may NOT go down in his tank since you likely have a very high kH. Higher buffering means less pH changes, which is GOOD even if the pH doesn't noticably drop.
The main thing is bringing that gH value down and also lowering your overall total disolved solids (a TDS meter would actually come in handy for you and they're fairly cheap) and contaminants. If the pH stays at 8 or 8.5 that's not a huge deal so don't worry about it. The other parameters are much more important as long as your pH is stable.
Hopefully that made sense, I'm not always too good at explaining this stuff lol.
Last edited by MyBirdIsEvil; June 26th, 2008 at 10:23 PM.
First off, thank you MyBirdIsEvil, I appreciate your help!
So, I brought my test kit in to work with me today to give you exact values. I only have those 5 in 1 test strips that test for a multitude of things for both fresh and salt water. I realize I will probably have to get a kit that tests for harndess alone to get something more accurate.
I was incorrect yesterday stating that the ammonia level was zero, this kit only tests for nitrates and nitrites, but both of those are zero. The pH is anywhere between 8-8.5. The KH is well over 240 ppm, the color is a lot darker on the strip then the scale goes. The GH is says it's zero, but I somehow have a hard time believing that. It does say the GH is for fresh water, but I do have a little bit of aquarium salt in his water, so maybe that's altering the results?
Will the little bit of salt I added affect the KH or GH? I read on a site dedicated to bettas that a little bit of aquarium salt will help to fight off any disease. I put about a tablespoon in the water when I do every 3rd water change, I realize that the salt doesn't evaporate so I figured that every 3rd water change will get all the excess salt out.
You would pretty much have to be adding enough salt to kill your betta for it to alter any readings. Regardless, I don't personally believe that adding salt regularly serves any purpose, ESPECIALLY if you already have water with a ton of different minerals and stuff in it. It's just not necessary. The only time I use salt is when I'm treating ich.
Even if you do decide to add regularly, a tablespoon is way too much for a 3g tank. I use a tablespoon per 5g when treating ich and that's an elevated dose.
That gH reading makes me question the accuracy of the test kit. You don't get mineral deposits and discoloration with extremely soft water.
Use several strips and compare, do they even have the same readings?
I bought those same strips a few years ago and they never read correctly compared to my liquid kit.
Yes, the results have always been the same. I will pick up a kit that tests specifically for hardness and let you know what I find out.
I will also stop putting in the salt and see what happens!
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On the issue of posting modified code, should it say something about posting the modified code in a new reply, rather than modifying an earlier post/reply? I find it irritating to have the original munged up code overwritten, so that you can't see what changes were made.In the After you get a response section, should there be anything about not deleting the thread? I thought that posters could only delete their posts/replies, but apparently, and quite annoyingly, the topic starter can delete the whole topic.
Nick wrote:10. Post in proper sentencesThis is a forum you are using, not a mobile phone.As a courtesy to the people you are hoping to have help you, type complete sentences. That is: Start with a capital letter. Spell words properly. Finish with a period (full-stop). (Just the one, thanks!)
I was also thinking, how difficult would it be that when a person posts a new topic, he/she will need to go through some check list in an effort to try to make sure the post is posted in the relevant section and that the poster has supplied enough detail in their first post.
[url=http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,148850.0.html]How to use this forum[/url]
I wouldn't bother reporting it. Just reply yourself, link to the sticky, and maybe mention "check point 3" or whatever.


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Ohio mom gets candid about son's heroin addiction in obituary
The opioid crisis is hitting families all across Ohio, and one mother who recently lost her son to a heroin overdose is hoping the candid obituary she wrote about her son will lead others to get help.
Michelle Benson says her son, Adam, struggled with addiction but never stopped fighting. In her 25-year-old son's obituary, she wrote what her son loved, including going to the gym, Harry Potter and four-wheeling. However, she says now that her son lost his life to a heroin overdose, he'll also be remembered as a statistic. Benson talked to WEWS in Cleveland about the candid obituary she wrote about her son, where she said he made a "bad decision" to experiment with opiates leading him to a world of heroin.
Benson says her son battled addiction for years and tried to get help, "there are so many families struggling and they just keep it quiet because it's shameful and they're ashamed, because there's a real stigma attached to it."


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Liquid assetsRevitalized Susquehanna River offering new economic opportunities
Since before recorded time, it has shaped the midstate — literally and figuratively. When settlers arrived, they found the Susquehanna River a pristine source for drinking water and farmland irrigation.
During the Industrial Revolution, the river helped power the midstate's economy, giving up its water for production of steel, paper, electricity and more. But that era also overflowed with misuse, outright abuse, pollution and disrespect of the Susquehanna.
In the last 40 years, environmental efforts have begun to flush out the damage. Challenges remain, but thanks to financial resources and other support converging, today could be the river's best time to shine.
Its flowing waters continue to power industries, and it provides thousands with drinking water.
With millions of people living within a two-hour drive of the lower Susquehanna corridor, the next stage of the river's story will likely focus on tourism development. And that potential — and subsequent economic boost — has only begun to be calculated.


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The April 15 deadline has come and gone, and if you haven't filed your tax return, here's what you need to do to avoid getting in trouble with the IRS.
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You should work to file as soon as you can, especially if you owe income taxes because penalties will rack up each month that the tax return remains unfiled. If you filed an extension, know that the extension only gives you extra time to file not extra time to pay. Your tax liability is due and payable on April 15. That means you have to do a bit of figuring to determine if and how much you might owe--might as well have done the return, right?
The best way to file late is electronically since a mailed tax return takes considerably longer and delivery isn't guaranteed. The IRS sends an electronic confirmation once it accepts an electronically- filed return, providing some piece of mind. E-file is available through October 15 for the filing of 2012 income tax returns.
IRS Free-File is still available, and according to the IRS, "If your income is $57,000 or less, you qualify to e-file your return using brand name software." If you make more than $57,000 you can still use the Free File Fillable Forms on the IRS website in order to input and electronically file your income tax return. Follow this link: Free-File-Fillable-Forms.
If you owe taxes but cannot pay the entire amount, pay as much as you can. You can attach IRS Form 9465 Request for Installment Agreement to your tax return to set up a payment arrangement. Simply fill out the form and indicate how much you are paying with the tax return, how much you can pay each month and payment dates.
Read the Instructions for Form 9465 Installment Agreement carefully to make sure this form applies to you. There is a user fee, which is reduced if you elect auto debit payments from your bank account. The user fee is added to your balance owing, so you don't pay it up front. It takes a couple of months for the IRS to process the request, but don't wait for approval, start making payments if able.
If you already have an installment agreement in place and find yourself owing for the current year, don't file a new Form 9465. Simply call and ask that the two balances be combined. This shouldn't be an issue however, if you owe for more than two years, expect some resistance. The IRS will want to know why you aren't making estimated tax payments or why payroll withholding is insufficient to meet your liability.
If you can pay off the tax bill within six months, save yourself the user fee and don't bother with the installment agreement. Your return will not be assigned to a revenue officer. During this period you will receive notices and billings spit out from its main computer system. You will receive your first bill once your tax return is processed – usually within 30 days . Pay what you can with the bill and make payments thereafter as you can. Be sure to put your social security number and the words "2012 Form 1040" on the memo line of the check.
On the upside, maybe you are entitled to a refund. You may not even have a filing requirement, but a refund may be due to you. For example, perhaps you worked part time making only a few grand but had federal taxes withheld or are entitled to certain tax credits. File now so you can get the refund. Direct deposit of your tax refund is an option that doesn't cost a dime extra. In fact, it speeds up your refund and is safer than a snail mailed check.


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Rickey Smiley Makes Little Person Sing Kelly Rowlands's "Motivation"
" Comedian Rickey "Little Daryl" Smiley coaching his midget partner, "Juicy" to sing Kelly Rowland's "Motivation""
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U.S. auto sales in January are expected to continue the torrid pace set at the end of last year, with sales rising as much as 15 percent due to an improving housing market and pent-up demand for cars and trucks.
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The industry is expected to report on Feb. 1 an annual sales rate in January of 15.3 million vehicles, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Auto sales are an early indicator each month of U.S. consumer demand.
J.D. Power and LMC Automotive, in a joint press release, said they expect U.S. retail sales in January to reach the highest rate in five years. Including fleet sales to commercial customers, the research firms expect an annual sales rate for the month of 15 million vehicles. That would follow the strong showings in November and December, when the rate topped 15 million.
"The year is off to a fast start, which bodes well for the remainder of 2013," J.D. Power Senior Vice President John Humphrey said. "Sales remain on a trajectory to return to pre-recession levels within a few years."
While U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated during the recent "fiscal cliff" debate in Washington, auto sales have remained strong, rising 13 percent last year to 14.5 million vehicles.
In addition, the price of U.S. homes being sold rose again in December, indicating a housing recovery remains on track. A strong housing market typically translates to increased sales of pickup trucks, which drive profits higher at the U.S. automakers General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler.
Steve Winters, general manager of Fox Grand Traverse in northern Michigan, a dealer who sells several brands including Ford, BMW, Mercedes and Mazda, said consumers in January didn't mention the fiscal cliff talks. "It's business as usual," he said. "Business is good. We're up."
Overall, executives and analysts have forecast industry sales in 2013 to rise to a range of 15 million to 15.5 million, although some suggested estimates will rise. J.D. Power and LMC, citing the strong end to last year and start to 2013, raised their forecast for this year by 100,000 vehicles to 15.1 million.
Another plus for the industry is the expected increase in sales occurred despite a decline in consumer incentives and the ebbing benefit of delayed sales caused by superstorm Sandy last fall, analysts said.
"It does appear retail strength is accelerating sequentially, perhaps owing to the passing of fiscal cliff concerns," RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak said in a research note.
He pointed out that January is typically a slow sales month, so a small change in sales can have a large impact on the annual sales rate for the month. Spak said he expects 2013 industry sales of 15.1 million vehicles, though that number could rise.
Another factor driving demand, which has been cited repeatedly by industry officials, is the rising age of cars and trucks on the road. The average age has increased to just above 11 years, an all-time high.
J.D. Power and LMC, as well as J.P. Morgan, see January sales up 8 percent from the prior year, while RBC and Edmunds.com have forecast increases of 15 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively.
J.P. Morgan sees an annual sales rate in January of 15 million, while RBC and Edmunds estimate 15.4 million and 15.3 million, respectively.


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|2013-02-14, 20:54
|Link #222
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 41
She sort of stole the scenes she was in in Girls und Panzer, "chewing the scenery" I think it is called. And she only sounds like Haruhi once in the whole thing...when she raises her voice to yell at her crew to "shut up". The total villinous breakdown was great.
|2013-03-18, 21:15
|Link #223
To show I'm not entirely pessimistic, here's a ray of hope.
Just now, Kadokawa's CEO, Shinichirou Inoue, replied to a random fan's tweet to him. Here's the conversation:
Inoue replied as such:
For the CEO of Kadokawa to reply to someone's random tweet to him and specifically bring up a possible S3 in conjunction to the new artbook, 10th anniversary, and other signs that have been popping up, start to add up to me.
I'll be honest. At some point in the last few months, I had lost hope we'd see more of this series animated. I couldn't say that because I know people would over-react if I said something. But now my hope has been renewed. I really think we'll see something soon. It may not be animated by KyoAni, but I think we'll see Haruhi in some anime form soon.
|2013-03-19, 11:35
|Link #225
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Brazil
Funny, CEO just broke my logic that Season 2 was actually some kind of fix to the holes of the first Season.
Oh well, anyone has the day when Tamako Market last episode airs? I still keep my bet that at the end of Tamako Market, a new Haruhi announcement comes
|2013-03-27, 05:44
|Link #227
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ¯\(º_o)/¯
If we really wanted to be pedantic then this third season would technically be the 4th animated installment.
2006 episodes > 2009 episodes > Disappearance movie > w/e is next
|2013-03-29, 12:25
|Link #228
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Age: 32
|2013-03-29, 17:30
|Link #229
Senior Member
Given that Tamako Market ended with the announcement of a second season of Chuunibyou, and given how long its been since Haruhi last had an anime installment, I'm prepared to think that Haruhi might really be done as an anime franchise.
I've come to terms with that, as disappointing as it is.
So let me just say that the Haruhi anime franchise was a blast, and lots of fun to watch and talk about, while it lasted. This forum is one that I will always have fond memories of, as I have a lot of lasting memories (and friends) that arose out of E8 debates more than anything else, ironically. Dr. Casey and Kogetsu Shirogane are two big examples of that.
Haruhi herself will likely remain amongst my Top 10 anime characters of all-time, and I definitely do miss seeing her in anime format. But ah well, it was nice while it lasted.
|2013-03-29, 19:41
|Link #231
Feel free to say it's been too long, but just because they announced a Pony Canyon/TBS show following a Pony Canyon/TBS show doesn't mean anything in regards to Kadokawa productions.
|2013-03-29, 19:50
|Link #232
Senior Member
Since 2013 was the 10th Anniversary of Haruhi, IIRC, I was holding out some faint hope that this might be the year we get more of it. And I guess that's still somewhat possible (Fall 2013, perhaps), and if it happens, great.
But I honestly want to sort of "move on" from wanting more Haruhi all the time. If we get more of it one day, great, awesome. But if we don't... so be it. I guess I'm trying to give myself a greater sense of closure.
It's fine if you yourself hold out more hope than I do. May your hope be rewarded.
|2013-03-29, 21:16
|Link #233
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ¯\(º_o)/¯
^ It's barely reached 4 months into the year. There's still another 2/3's of 2013 left. And we still don't even know when or what the this Chuuni thing even is yet. But whatever helps pass the time better I guess.
Last edited by brocko; 2013-03-29 at 21:54.
|2013-03-30, 11:50
|Link #234
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Though I have to admit with Chuunibyou coming in either Autumn or Winter (can they make it by Summer?) the chance that we'll get to see Haruhi again is pretty slim.
|2013-03-31, 09:12
|Link #236
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
|2013-04-03, 07:27
|Link #237
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Anyone heard of this? Not sure how this's gonna affect our chance of getting to see Haruhi again but it seems to me Kyoani doesn't have have any plan for her in the near future (?)
|2013-04-03, 11:59
|Link #238
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Brazil
Basing my hopes on Wikipedia (I'll regret this):
Light Novels
Original run June 6, 2003 – ongoing
Original run November 2005 – ongoing
Those 2 facts, alone, are enough to hope for a new animation.
Be it in 2013, '14, '15.. As long as Tanigawa is still writing the series and there's still manga adaption, there is material for anime adaption. KyoAni just seems to be focusing on some different shows for now.
Hell, they'll be damned if no more anime adaption comes out. There's SO much story to cover. The novels sell well, the merchandise sells well.. If it sells, why not making an adaption? I read somewhere that Kadokawa has interest in adapting more to anime. Just seems KyoAni doesn't want to.
Who knows, we either see Haruhi in anime form in the next few years by KyoAni, or another studio comes up and snatches the gold.
|2013-04-03, 22:05
|Link #239
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
True on the "so much story to cover" front. By my reckoning, the remaining pre-Dissociation material would fill a 14-episode block, and Dissociation/Surprise would fill another, which means that they're only halfway done with just the material that's already out.
On a slightly different tack, the manga is already diving into Dissociation, so there is a decent chance that it will overtake the novels. If so, then I hope that we can see some decent story arcs rather than only one-shot fillers. Not that the one-shot stories so far haven't been decent (e.g. the early Mikuru one "Knowing You, Knowing Me" is a nice call-forward to "The Melancholy of Mikuru", and I did like the depiction of the autumn sports festival), but I'd hate to see them becoming the only new stories coming out.
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Burlington, Harwinton veterans treated to lunch at annual Lewis Mills Veterans Day celebration
Burlington >> In celebration of Veteran's Day on Sunday, Nov. 11, Lewis Mills High School hosted its annual Veterans Day luncheon and ceremony for all veterans in Harwinton and Burlington, on Thursday afternoon.
The luncheon, sponsored by the Harwinton Women's Club and the M.I.L.L.S. Club, started off the celebration at noon, providing sandwiches, desserts and drinks, while students of the M.I.L.L.S. Club served the food and mingled with the local veterans and senior citizens. Culinary arts students also made various salads for the luncheon.
Veterans were thanked by several student organizations, with a ceremony featuring various slide shows and videos for all their hard work and dedication while serving their country.
Information regarding the history of Veteran's Day and the branches of the military were presented to students, teachers, veterans and other special guests during the ceremony.
The student organizations involved were the Boy Scouts, Lewis Mill's band, American Sign Language students and the Notable Notes, the Lewis Mill's choir group.
The Veterans Day celebration was held for the ninth successful year, having started in 2003.
"It's a place for them (the veterans) to get together and talk about their experiences from the military." said Maddy Marzullo, Harwinton Women's Club member.
"Every year we invite the veterans to talk to each other and have lunch with us," said Angie O'Donnell, senior and M.I.L.L.S. club member. "We've always had a good number of veterans, which has been great."
According to Lewis Mills principal Pamela Lazaroski, it's the students' hard work and efforts that make the event rewarding and successful.
"It's a great community outreach program," said Lazaroski. "Our kids are great and always make us proud. They're an integral part of the event."
A total of 14 veterans were honored at the ceremony, including four members of the Lewis Mill's administration. Many of the honored veterans have come to the celebration every year.
A proclamation, read by Lazaroski for Veterans Day 2012 by President Barack Obama, concluded the event.
Sarah Bogues can be reached at 860-489-3121, ext. 328, or by email at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Print on Demand and ebook publishing have created a whole new model for publishing. Are POD and digital books the answer to an author's prayers, or just an evolutionary step between traditional publishing models and free Internet distribution?
You Aren't Seth Godin And Neither Am I
A reader of this blog sent me a link to a Seth Godin video the other day and asked my opinion. I'd seen Godin's name before on Matt Cutt's blog (the only blog I check on a somewhat regular basis), but I didn't know anything about him or his web marketing. So the first thing I did after listening to the video was to check his blog on Quantcast:
It turns out that Godin has "Quantified" his blog, meaning the traffic report shown above isn't an estimate, it's based on actual visitors. So are 147,000 U.S. visitors a month a strong showing for a blog? If you have any favorite blogging gurus check them out on Quantcast, and chances are they won't even have enough visitors to show up at all, because most popular blogs depend on subscribers taking (and not reading) feeds. I checked a few sources that report on the popularity of blogs, and if we go with Technorati, Godin is the most popular individual blogger in the world. The stress is on "individual blogger", there were 15 blogs ranked higher than him, but they were all collaborative efforts. So, if you think you have the potential to become the most popular blogger in the world and share the conference circuit with internet publishing prophets like Chris Anderson and Tim O'Reilly, blogging and tweeting may be the way to go. But what if you're just another author like me who writes and publishes books for a living?
Seth Godin and I have something in common in that we both talk about marketing books by giving away free content, and it turns out that we both get around the same number of U.S. web visitors. Godin's traffic is growing at a much faster rate than mine, but as a blog, two thirds of his visitors are repeaters, either regulars or "addicts." Less than 20% of his blog visitors arrive from search, if we go by the Alexa estimate and double it to calibrate with my benchmarks. My fonerbooks website gets around 80% of its visitors from search, and barely over 10% from returning visitors, both by design. In the course of a year, over 1.5 million U.S. visitors will arrive on my site from search, and not because they are searching for "Morris Rosenthal". If we estimate from the adjusted Alexa percentage, perhaps 300,000 U.S. visitors a year will find Seth's blog through search, and I'm willing to bet Godin lunch if we're ever at the same conference that most of his popular search phrases include "Seth Godin" in them.
All of this isn't to say that Godin is doing anything wrong. In fact, I would say that's he's done pretty much everything right. He's a bestselling author of 10 books, writes the most popular blog in the world according to Technorati, he's a recognizable name in marketing and a sought after speaker. I assume Godin hears from corporate executives seeking help with launching and marketing new products at the same rate I hear from college kids hoping to trick me into doing their homework. The problem is that I don't see his success as a model that will help the average working author. A top blogger may end up with over 100,000 subscribers, but we can't all be top bloggers unless every one of us subscribes to over 100,000 blogs. People may follow thousands of Twitter feeds, but they have to use filters and make endless heart-wrenching decisions over whether or not to actually read 140 characters. After all, who has the time? It's true that niche success is somewhat easier to achieve, but blogging is probably the hardest way to get there.
Godin's blog has eight times as many pages as my website and almost a hundred times as many incoming links. So why doesn't it dwarf my search traffic? It's not a technical problem, though the blogging structure does have "issues", it's that blog content tends to be heavy on repeated opinions and commentary which do poorly in search. If you are an author, you already have the prime ingredient for a website in your niche. It's the book you've written and any intelligent research notes, updates, or additional material that didn't make the final edit. You don't have to put your whole book online, you can use excerpts, chapters, or any approach that makes you comfortable. A blog with occasional updates will help with repuatation, but it's only required if your goal involves becoming a public figure. The important thing is that you provide enough resource content so that visitors will find your website useful without having to buy the book, and that you don't break it up into a hundred blog posts. If all you provide is a teaser, it may be more effective in terms of sell through, but you'll never get the links and increased traffic to put your website on the map because you've created an advertisement rather than a resource. Drawing visitors from search is about informing the general public, not preaching to the converted. Dave Taylor has had tremendous success simply answering topical questions, and his traffic (primarily from search)makes Godin and I look like losers:
Famous authors can sell books through their websites simply by announcing that a new book is coming out and "allowing" fans to sign-up for the first copies. I'm not a famous author and you probably aren't a famous author either so it won't work for us. Nobody will buy my books because I'm a cool guy, a compelling speaker, or offering a path to success through some clever insight that fits into a book title or a tweet. I would argue with some of Godin's conclusions, especially the souvenir thesis as a model for the publishing industry, but he sells a lot more books than me and he sits at a higher table. Just remember that he sells those books by being Seth Godin and choosing to write on marketing subjects with large potential audiences. And I'd like to see Seth do the following with one of his hard covers:-)
9 comments:
- Seth Godin said...
I guess we can disagree.
First, I wasn't famous, far from it, when I wrote the first few books (I'm hardly famous now, if famous means that most people know who you are. Almost no one knows who I am.)
What matters here for an author are two things:
1. almost all the time, trade publishing is a sucker's game. For the publisher and the author. The odds are horrible.
2. You don't need to be famous. You need to be well known to your niche. And to do that you might only need 200 or 2000 readers (if the niche is powerplant architects, say). And blogging is the most efficient marketing tool known to man if that's your goal.
Thanks for your post!
- Anonymous said...
I'm glad I was able to read your blog post Morris after watching Godin's video, it saved me from madly jumping off a bridge and giving away all my books free online. :-) Your post was a good tempering of reality.
On the other hand watching the Godin video did something that has been long in coming with me - drove home the reality of the "free" paradigm. Maybe not giving away the farm for free, but how about the chicken coop in hopes of getting someone to buy the farm :-)
This led me to thinking about a fortunate mis-step that happened to me after the release of my latest book. Normally based on what I've learned about free, I give free excerpts away for all my books, and this has worked well. But for some reason I decided not to do that with the title I released a month ago - no free content.
Here's where the story turns fortunate - I'm toying with the idea now of sending out anouther email blast this time not announcing the new book but announcing a chapter or 2 online for free. Why is this better than announcing this free content along with the first blast which announced the release of the book?
Simple: I get an excuse to do a second email blast and a second wave of marketing. Now the only question is, do I announce the free chapters now while sales are already strong, hoping to compound momentum, or do I wait until things cool off and do it then? I'm hoping Morris has an insight into this question.
I'm pretty excited about the idea of giving away a free chapter. I'll put the links on the PDF for where to buy the book and I think the free chapter will get circulated a good bit. Hopefully it will stimulate sales.
This is of course a short term stunted solution to the overall problem publishers face of content going free. Ultimately I think we have to contend with the inevitability that books themselves may go away entirely and be replaced by free content. But I'll leave that question for the experts to solve and I'll try to get over my neurotic perfectionism of always trying to have my business model squared away for the next 3 decades :-)
- Morris Rosenthal said...
I'll admit I don't know your history well enough to say when fame kicked in. Clearly, you are famous now.
We agree about trade publishing being a suckers game for the vast majority of authors. I've found a way to make a good living self publishing, you've expanded into bigger things. I'm not up to bigger things, andI don't believe most authors are either, which is why I focus on trying to help them make a living self publishing.
And I'm also a big advocate of niche publishing, but selling 200 books isn't much of a living even if you run the price up. My website exists in at least six or seven distinct niches, but I don't see every one as an opportunity to publish a book. In some cases, I lack the depth to write the book, in some cases, the market lacks the depth to pay for my time.
Example: I just found a place to store my 1986 Dodge Omni for the winter, and I built a website around the car that draws around 400 visitors a day. But I know from the search phrases that are bringing them that I'd get nowhere writing a book about Dodge Omni ownership. Yes, if it was the next "Zen and the art of..." title it might make it, but I just write straight how-to.
We disagree strongly on blogs. I won't challenge you to start collecting examples of successful blogs while I collect examples of blogs without audiences because we both know the outcome of that contest. You might argue that the bloggers who fail to establish a serious following just aren't the best in the world at their niche. I would argue that their niche doesn't consist of people who are interested in blogs.
I think that pretty much everybody who spends any time online knows what Google is and has tried at least a couple Internet searches. Relatively few of my friends and family know what a blog is, and nobody I know outside of my publishing circles subscribes to any blogs. I'm aware that there are somewhat popular blogs in some niche areas, but I'm saying that you way overestimate their penetration.
We aren't all activists or voyeurs. It's instructional that the most popular bogs in existence are all "look at this" sites for people who like "looking at this." That's a small minority of the adult population.
- Morris Rosenthal said...
You know I have zero experience on e-mail blasting, so I don't really know what to tell you. I suppose I'd be inclined to wait since the book has already reached critical mass on Amazon in your niche. If sales fall at some point in the future, you can experiment with e-mail notification of excerpts at that time.
- Robert Plamondon said...
Seth is creating a never-ending series of books based on the same topic as his blog, and in one case ("Small is the New Big") consisting of collected blog postings. His blog followers are thus primed to buy his new books as a matter of course. I certainly do!
I would think that a series of blog posts on the same topic as the books one is publishing would serve the dual purposes of drawing search-engine traffic and attracting followers. That said, however, my own experience is that my emailed newsletter is more effective than my blog (http://www.plamondon.com/newsletters.html vs. http://www.plamondon.com/blog).
With a point product that you don't expect to be following up on with new offerings, I think your more focused approach is the right one.
- HomeSchoolCollegeCounselor said...
The reason Godin has received such a huge following is because his content is great! To use his own lingo, he's a "purple cow." The best way to succeed in the business is to stand out from the pack by being remarkable...but you also have to have the correct marketing structure to get readers/followers.
- Morris Rosenthal said...
I think you missed the point of the post. As I offered to bet Seth a lunch, I believe his main search traffic comes from people searching on "Seth Godin" and variations thereon. In other words, he's famous, so blogging works for him. If you rolled back the clock nine years or whenever he started, his blog traffic would have been trivial. Did it build because blogging worked, or because he wrote bestsellers and went on the speaking circuit? You know my opinion.
What he and I dissagree over is whether he is now famous and getting a lot of blog readers because blogging is a good way to get the word out, or whether blogging works for him and a couple hundred other people in the world, many of them inspirational marketing consultants, because they have been successful promoting themselves to each other and through speaking in the brick-and-mortar world.
I'm not looking at it from the standpoint of seeing who can yell the loudest, but by looking at search statistics. My own experience, and the experience of all of the highly professional, highly skilled, but not famous bloggers I know, is that blogging sucks for search.
- nethy said...
I believe that you are missing some subtleties.
Blogging is a way of developing a certain type of interaction & relationship with potential readers. It is a marketing device where individuals have an advantage over larger companies.
There is certainly value in getting people who don't know you to buy your book. But there is also value to getting people to know you so that they buy your next book because they know you. A blog is not just a way of finding buyers for your books. It's also a way of maintaining a link with readers. I almost always Google the author of a book I am reading these days. I don't always stick around, but there is usually a chance of keeping me around.
- Morris Rosenthal said...
I think you've completely missed the issue. As one of the senior bloggers in the publishing field, and having been involved in heavy publishing correspondence with authors for over a decade, I have a lot of experience with the author side of blogging. We aren't talking about the reader experience here, whether it makes you happy as an individual to find an author who blogs, but whether it makes sense for authors to pursue blogging as a marketing strategy.
For the vast majority of authors, the answer is a resounding "No." They will never build enough traffic to justify the time invested, or perhaps, wasted is a better word. It's just another marketing fantasy brought to you by people who make a living sellig marketing fantasies.


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This is a unit in 7-8 sessions about objects outside of our solar system, including galaxies and the universe. Learners will investigate the contents of the universe, why light years are used to measure distances in space, the lifespan of a star,... (View More) and detecting extrasolar planets. Finally, they will examine evidence for habitable worlds beyond earth. This is Unit 4 of the GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8, which is available for purchase (see related link). (View Less)
Learners will construct a model to show the relative size and scale of the Sun-Earth system, investigate the visible and electromagnetic spectrums, discuss solar flares and solar weather, develop a UV shield, and discuss the results of their... (View More) investigations. The unit is set in the context of solving a mystery and supports the idea that scientific explanations are based on evidence. This is Unit 1 of the GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8, which is available for purchase (see related link). (View Less)
This is an activity about sunspots and solar flares. Learners will work collaboratively to create abstracts detailing their knowledge of sunspots and solar flares and then present their work to the entire audience. A background understanding of our... (View More) Sun and its features is needed prior to starting this activity. This is activity 4 in Exploring Magnetism in Solar Flares. (View Less)
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A sturdy tan, acid/lignin-free, buffered (pH 8.5), "B" flute, ¼" thick double corrugated board. Excellent for projects which require an extra heavy corrugated board, available in both single direction & cross direction grain for an exceptional strong board that resist curling & bending. Makes excellent display material, picture frame backer board, etc.
Products shipped via Truck. Additional shipping charges may apply.
Two Locations To Better Serve You
6340 Bandini Blvd.
Commerce, CA 90040
Phone: 800-862-2228
Phone: 323-721-7800
Fax: 888-822-6937
9401 Northeast Dr.
Fredericksburg, VA 22408
Phone: 800-634-0491
Phone: 540-898-7300
Fax: 800-947-8814


text:
Andrew Cuomo Angry That Craigslist Stole His Photo Op
from the wow dept
"Several weeks ago, we informed Craigslist of an impending criminal case that implicated its website. Rather than work with this office to prevent further abuses, in the middle of the night, Craigslist took unilateral action which we suspect will prove to be half-baked."O'Toole's summary is dead on: "Curses, you stole my photo op!" So when we wrote the original post wondering how soon it would be before AGs were upset with the new plan, we knew something like this would happen eventually. We just didn't think it would be a matter of hours.