On curing a hacked blog

I noticed a recent comment from a visitor that read “You have been hacked with the pharma hack (google “pharma hack”). You can verify this by doing a google search for your domain name.” I thought it was simply a mistake or (ironically!) a spambot, so deleted it without a second thought. Even so, I did as the commenter suggested – out of idle curiosity more than anything – and discovered that s/he was absolutely correct. So, xensen, whoever you are, thanks. ^_^

I don't actually look anything like this

As far as I know this blog’s never been a victim of a hacker before, and since it’s been a bit neglected in recent months I’ve done only the bare minimum in terms of upgrades, maintenance and general housekeeping. Since a lot of anime/J-culture bloggers I’m in contact with run on the wordpress platform, I might as well outline my experiences in case it happens to any of you as well.

Mahoromatic, a series I hate to love

Way back when, I watched the first season of Mahoromatic because I’m a Gainax completist and later made a mental note to pick up the second season when time and finances allowed. Even then, Something More Beautiful sat on my backlog shelf for months. The fact that I have an entire DVD shelf dedicated to my backlog might explain why that happened, but Mahoromatic‘s second half wasn’t something I was in a hurry for in the first place.

I found myself compelled to see it through to the notorious end, but I can think of so many reasons why I perhaps shouldn’t have bothered. My lasting impression is that it really wasn’t bad; ignoring the waste of time that is the Summer Special (a course of action I thoroughly recommend, by the way) it still had its fair share of problems.

Fate/Zero? I’ll drink to that

After my review of Fate/Zero‘s opening episodes over at UK-A I was a bit shocked at how opinion on Google+ was so critical of the storytelling approach, to the point where I felt I was in the minority who didn’t mind it. I know it doesn’t appeal to everyone: squinting at reams of subtitled dialogue in an infodump opener and wading through thick waves of exposition from that point on isn’t everyone’s grail of mead, but still.

It’s just that this is closer to how I’d imagine a Nasu adaptation to be (yes, I know Urobuchi did the legwork) so quite frankly the idiosyncracies go with the territory. Introducing a cast of this size, especially considering the relationships and connections involved, was never going to be a painless exercise for the viewer, in any case.

Fuka-Eri left me behind in the Town of Cats

The hardback edition of 1Q84 was always going to be one of the highlights of this year’s reading list, so however good or bad it turned out to be I was going to make a big deal about picking it up and savouring every page. You can’t get New Book Smell from a Kindle, either.

I’ve seen Orwell comparisons frequently mentioned but unless I’m missing something really subtly woven in to the structure or prose, Murakami hasn’t gone down the homage or pastiche route here. Beyond a couple of passing references to the date in which the events take place, there isn’t much in this novel that’s Orwellian at all; although it’s been a number of years since I read Nineteen Eighty-Four this is just another Murakami novel as far as I can tell.

Examining the ingredients of the Pineapple Salad

Groups of friends often develop in-jokes and running gags over time, like memes on a localised scale. One of the most well-used in my experience crops up when a fictional character dies in tragic, dramatic and heroic style: we refer to such an admirable and Manly Tear-inducing exit as getting the ‘Pineapple Salad’. It’s given a passing reference in TV Tropes under Fundamentally Funny Fruit, but there’s nothing funny about getting the Pineapple Salad. Nevertheless, it’s the best kind of tragic.

This accolade is never given lightly. Given its origin, it demands to be an award of the highest order as a recognition of epic courage, selflessness and sheer badassery; spoilers for Super Dimensional Fortress Macross are coming up, by the way.

Japan travelogue 2011: Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

Bit by bit I’m uploading my holiday snaps to Flickr (a job that’s a bit more complicated since I bought a new camera partway through the stay) so full sized versions of the first few are now available to view over there.

Photography inside the museum itself is prohibited though, so my shots were limited to the roof area and those surrounding the site. In a way it takes a bit of pressure off you as a tourist because you instead focus on simply walking around the place without the concern of “…I ought to take a shot of this…” so I can see why such a rule is in place. Anyhow, it’s a perfect place to rediscover your inner child.

Contact and conflict in Macross and Good Luck, Yukikaze

Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Good Luck Yukikaze are two offerings in the diverse and well-trodden region of speculative fiction in which humanity tries to come to terms with, and survive, an alien invasion. Although they have not directly influenced one another as far as I know, they do share a similar level of care and attention devoted to showing how the events affect individuals.

Macross is renowned for being a character-driven romance rather than a political space opera; for all the loving detail lavished on the hardware and military tactics Yukikaze still has plenty of time for humans and their relationships (even when the relationships are with machines!). The war is of course for the whole of humanity, but often for the combatants very personal issues are what matter.

A quick message of congratulations to Kenichi and Maaya

I rarely pay any attention to the latest news in the worlds of seiyuu and Jpop (my knowledge of the language is too limited to appreciate the former and my musical tastes veer too far into the indie/alternative to appreciate the latter) but I felt that the announcement of Maaya Sakamoto recently marrying fellow VA Kenishi Suzumura deserves commenting on. I’m supposed to be working on another writing project ATM though, so I’ll have to keep this short.

Source: Alafista (click image for full article)

Maaya is one of the few VAs I’ve paid much attention to: after seeing her name crop up so frequently a while ago, I checked her ANN profile and realised how often I’d heard her voice, both as a singer and an actress. Similarly, Kenichi is another industry veteran and it turns out that they’ve often worked together and have known each other for some time. Compared to, say, the negative reaction to Aya Hirano making certain details of her private life public, the messages of goodwill from the fans at this piece of news are both heartwarming and completely justified.

Mass of the Fermenting Dregs are my new favourite band

One of the first things I learned when getting into Jpop/Jrock was this: never judge a band by their name. Mass of the Fermenting Dregs (or Masu Dore to their fans) seem to follow the same path as the likes of School Food Punishment and Bump of Chicken in the sense that their name has no relation whatsoever to the music (for the record, Mogwai are also quoted as saying “it [their name] has no significant meaning and we always intended on getting a better one, but like a lot of other things we never got round to it.” so I guess it’s not a Japanese thing either).

Their sound is described as partly shoegaze, but to my ears the similarities are somewhat limited next to the early-90s bands of that genre; they do make use of the female vocals paired with distorted guitar-based arrangements and they also strike a balance between catchy melodies and experimental noise though. The songs are also quite punk/new wave- and powerpop-influenced so I’d say they share as much with the pillows and early Supercar as, say, My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive.

Love Exposure

I can’t even remember how Love Exposure made it onto my Lovefilm rental queue, then the discs sat on my desk for the best part of a fortnight. Before you read past the jump I should warn you that it’s a very long film (the commercial release is four hours; the director’s cut, which I haven’t seen, clocks in at six) and it’s not one for the easily offended.

The plot synopsis is hard to summarise but at its core Love Exposure is a coming-of-age romantic comedy. Its intertwining plot threads feature graphic gore and manga-style violence, domestic strife, panty shots, teen angst, sexual and religious taboos and numerous awkward boners. To reiterate: not for the easily offended. It’s still bloody genius though.