moonshadow

Karma: 33

moonshadow 7 Jan 2016 18:45 UTC
1 point
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: January 2016 Media Thread
Everything becomes F A rather well presented ybpxrq ebbz zheqre mystery puzzle. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure that all the information needed to understand what is happening is available ol gur svsgu rcvfbqr or so, though I did not piece it together until much later. On rewatching, you realise there is a lot of attention to detail.

Also, the ending features Life in Life and much Lisp; gotta be a good thing, right? ;)

moonshadow 2 Aug 2015 7:44 UTC
4 points
in reply to: ShardPhoenix’s comment on: August 2015 Media Thread
Gakkou Gurashi failed the “you have five minutes to make me care about any of this” test initially for us; a friend later convinced us to watch the first episode all the way to the end—they were absolutely correct and it is now firmly back on our to-watch-more-of list, but haven’t got round to confirming it stays good yet, good to have corroboration.

Another honourable mention: Akagami no Shirayukihime; strong, actually intelligent female protagonist in a misogynistic fantasy setting. Straight romance. It’s a little self-aware initially—she tears up in surprise a bit too often when men aren’t actively horrible to her—but gets better. Not as strong as Akatsuki no Yona though, would really like to see a second season of that.

moonshadow 1 Aug 2015 21:20 UTC
2 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: August 2015 Media Thread
Things that we haven’t dropped yet from the current season—there’s a bumper crop:
- Classroom Crisis—does for corporate politics what Shirobako did for anime production. I have had those conversations with management...
- Game of Laplace—trappings of a detective/mystery series, but more psychological thriller than particularly rational so far; still, has potential and the thriller is well done.
- GATE—still not sure, but still watching. Fantasyland attempts to invade Japan, Japan retaliates, SDF starts a softly-softly invasion of fantasyland (after basically a massacre of their entire combined armed forces, medieval knights vs modern weapons isn’t really a contest). It raises interesting issues, and could get very good if it actually follows them up—though it has not so far, and will be quite banal if it never does; will report back here either way.
Honourable mention: Shimoneta. I was expecting a series with this premise to fail the ten second fanservice test, but we ended up watching the entire first episode and it is surprisingly worth seeing an episode (no idea if it remains worthwhile, we have not been brave enough to try a second!). Laugh-out-loud funny, unexpectedly high production quality. Think Fahrenheit 451 crossed with Gurren Lagann crossed with a whole lot of WRONG and WTF and NSFW.

EDIT: have read ahead in the GATE manga. It doesn’t quite ascend to the epic “The Irregular at Magic High School” Kim-Jong-Il-propaganda levels of Gary Stu, but that’s sadly the direction it’s firmly headed in and unless they’ve rewritten the script for the anime it looks like it’s going to avoid any redeeming features it’s raised the possibility of. Pity. Dropping.

moonshadow 16 Jun 2015 12:41 UTC
2 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: June 2015 Media Thread
- Ava’s demon is a somewhat experimental piece of web media, somewhere between webcomic and slideshow, that updates relatively slowly and I keep rediscovering and splurging on every couple of months. It doesn’t get enough love and really should be more widely known. An incredibly pretty dystopia, with rather well thought through characters.

moonshadow 12 Jun 2015 15:17 UTC
0 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: June 2015 Media Thread
Got introduced to Noize MC (sic) - Russian rap / hip hop. Not even always political. Sometimes they sing in English. Their music videos can be pretty trippy.

Edit: You didn’t save; all your folders are empty; I see you’re panicking but not even CTRL+ALT+DEL will save you now

moonshadow 18 Apr 2015 22:35 UTC
0 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: April 2015 Media Thread
I have just spotted that Marina and Sergei Dyachenko’s Metamorphosis cycle is being translated into English. The first book is Vita Nostra; I would very much recommend it, especially to anyone that enjoyed Max Barry’s “Lexicon”.

moonshadow 4 Mar 2015 9:54 UTC
1 point
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: March 2015 Media Thread
Finally got around to watching Tatami Galaxy. Found it a very pleasing take on the Groundhog Day closed timelike curve genre; a nice exploration of the idea that blaming external circumstances and even individual seemingly pivotal decisions is not enough to explain poor outcomes.

moonshadow 2 Mar 2015 22:43 UTC
2 points
in reply to: Stefan_Schubert’s comment on: March 2015 Media Thread

“counts the number of incorrect facts within a page.”

“Facts the web unanimously agrees on are considered a reasonable proxy for truth.”

...wait, what?

...I guess they don’t actually mean “unanimously”...

moonshadow 4 Dec 2014 11:08 UTC
0 points
in reply to: Halfwitz’s comment on: December 2014 Media Thread
It’s awesome until the plot does a 90 degree turn near the end. Unfortunately their authors just aren’t as good as Dumas and oynzvat Rqzbaq’f npgvbaf ba zvaq pbagebyyvat fcnpr nyvraf xvaq bs erzbirf gur cbvag.

moonshadow 1 Dec 2014 14:52 UTC
6 points
in reply to: sixes_and_sevens’s comment on: December 2014 Media Thread
I really enjoyed the film; thought it was a very decent portrayal of misunderstood socially inept genius. Got me right in the feels. My wife concurs. I would happily recommend it on that basis.

If you’re expecting any historical accuracy or sensible computer science, you will be sadly disappointed; if this is a problem for you, avoid. This is not Turing’s history; this is Turing fanfiction.

moonshadow 15 Oct 2014 9:32 UTC
1 point
in reply to: spxtr’s comment on: October 2014 Media Thread
How about some ОП? ;) (cheating, since they normally do rock )

moonshadow 3 Sep 2014 15:50 UTC
3 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: September 2014 Media Thread
Finally got around to playing To The Moon, and it is much much better than I expected, to the point where I am now recommending it to everyone. Interactive fiction very much in the spirit if not the mechanics of old point-and-click adventures, it is one of those satisfyingly well-told mysteries where with every reveal you realise all the pieces really were there for you to see whether you managed to put them together or not. Also it is something of a love song to 8-bit RPGs.

moonshadow 3 Sep 2014 15:40 UTC
2 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: September 2014 Media Thread
- I was honestly expecting Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun to run out of jokes an episode or two in, but actually it keeps getting better and better—shaping up to be my favourite comedy so far this year.
- I’ve been surprisingly taken with Barakamon, a heartwarming slice-of-life. I was expecting a sports-anime style coverage of calligraphy, but actually it’s more reminiscent of Usagi Drop or Wolf Children.
- We’ve been watching Mahouka for the laughs. It starts out fairly unassuming but rapidly becomes one of those shows that is so dire it’s actually comedy gold; the main character is the most blatant Gary Stu I have ever seen, and by ep.10 or so it is reminiscent of North Korean propaganda.

moonshadow 3 Sep 2014 15:30 UTC
1 point
in reply to: RowanE’s comment on: September 2014 Media Thread
This. My biggest issue with Psycho Pass was precisely the frevny xvyyre oenva thing. The writers created an interesting world, posed a variety of interesting questions (fubhyq lbh qrsre gb na ragvgl gung pynvzf gb xabj orggre guna lbh jung jbhyq znkvzvfr lbhe hgvyvgl, jura lbhe orfg rfgvzngr bs gur pbeerpg pbhefr jvyqyl qvfnterrf jvgu vgf bja naq vg qbrf abg rkcynva vgf ernfbavat?), made clear their opinions on the subjects (flovy vf rivy! serrqbz vf n fnperq inyhr!), but justified them with trivial accidents of the setup (frevny xvyyre oenvaf, crbcyr sbeprq vagb boivbhfyl njshy yvsr pubvprf) - those things are not a necessary aspect of the system and it is imagine to consider a less convenient world in which the writers would have had to actually engage with the issues they raise. A pity, because the series is otherwise so good.

moonshadow 12 Aug 2014 11:34 UTC
0 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: August 2014 Media Thread
- There is a new Robin Hobb out as of today (in the UK, anyway), “Fool’s Assassin”. An automatic buy on the strength of the previous novels for me; will report further once I have finished it.

moonshadow 1 Aug 2014 23:48 UTC
2 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: August 2014 Media Thread
- Peeking in on Pact, the serial the author of Worm is currently writing, was arguably a mistake: compulsively catching up ate almost a week, I advise the reader to be prepared for that before venturing in. Pact feels more tightly paced and plotted than early Worm often was, is every bit as compelling and its punches are, if anything, harder.

moonshadow 1 Aug 2014 23:41 UTC
3 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: August 2014 Media Thread
Anime from the current season:
- Terror in Resonance is a kind of reverse Death Note without the magic
- Aldnoah Zero is shaping up to be a Code Geass-alike, although the timescales for the alternative history are implausible enough to jolt one out of suspending disbelief occasionally.

moonshadow 26 Jun 2014 10:36 UTC
1 point
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: June 2014 Media Thread
From the season just finished, Hitsugi no Chaika consistently overdelivers on what it promises, despite a weak first episode. The worldbuilding is pretty decent (I normally use Moribito as the touchstone for that, and it’s not quite that good, but few things are), the plot—while not overly complex—seems quite fresh, and cliches are often avoided. On the downside, while they don’t actually leave you on a cliffhanger, you get half a series—the other half to come in the autumn.

Also One Week Friends is pure tissuebox material, possibly one of the most emotion-inducing shows in the last year or two. That sort of thing is not everyone’s cup of tea though, natch.

moonshadow 5 Jun 2014 13:36 UTC
2 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: June 2014 Media Thread
I’ve spent the last few months following the recommendations from these and (for the most part) loving them, so thought I’d contribute back:
- The Girl With All The Gifts, one of the few things I’ve read las month NOT recommended here, is a fresh, heartwrenching, intelligent and often rational take on the zombie apocalypse genre (not one I am normally fond of, either!)
- Thief’s Magic reads almost like a Lawrence Watt-Evans book; it is unfortunately the first in a trilogy and makes no pretence otherwise, so you get more of an introduction than a complete story, but nevertheless a fantasy well worth starting.

moonshadow 5 Jun 2014 13:25 UTC
0 points
in reply to: ShardPhoenix’s comment on: June 2014 Media Thread
As someone working on AAA games, generally what happens is the engine is written in C++ (and small performance-critical sections possibly hand-coded using intrinsics or assembly) and some portion of the game logic is written in a scripting language. Lua is quite popular.