Between Linux and Anime

Spring 2013 Brainmarks (Simplified)

On May 3, 2013

The blog is alive again! Wahahahaha

So first of all a mostly unimportant logistic detail: I’m changing the original definition of Brainmarks posts a little to make it easier on myself. The essential difference: I’ll no longer sieve through _everything_ the season has to offer. I’m no longer doing this with my housemate, and while checking out everything was sort of fun while it lasted, it’s also extremely time consuming and more often than not even sort of thankless (watching clearly shit shows just to make doubly sure they really are shit is not the most fun thing in the world). So what I’ll list here are shows that I i) somehow decided to check out, either from recommendations, blogs, or general buzz and ii) have not swiftly chucked aside after one or two episodes because I clearly didn’t like it. I’ll still rank the brainmarks though, because that’s sort of fun.

Spoilered: What are brainmarks? (Revised)	Select Show
Q: Wait wha? This is basically me jumping on the season preview/season impression posts bandwagon that basically contains just about every other aniblogger except me. ~~Since I’m actually checking out the entire spectrum of shows with my housemate nowadays I figured it’s finally time.~~ I basically check out shows arbitrarily and tell you which ones I liked and assume you care. What, isn’t that how these things usually work? Q: …”Brainmarks”? Picture the entire season’s offerings swirling around in a state of interminable chaos in your feral brain. Now picture fishing a number of shows out of that mess and pinning it up neatly – marking them for further exploration and investigation. That’s making brainmarks, and that’s what this post does for you. As a bonus I even rank them. And yes, I like inventing words (remember photoogling?). Q: Aren’t you just jelly about Blogsuki’s aptly named “Thin-slicing” posts? Why not at all. Whoever gave you that idea? whistle Q: Uh okay. So basically any show that appears here is great, and any that doesn’t sucks? Well, no- maybe. Lousy shows obviously won’t show up here, but I may give shows that use mostly recycled material/strategies a pass as well, even if they are relatively well done and entertaining. Conversely, not so well executed shows that do something interesting or that show potential for interesting development may show up, but there is of course no guarantee those won’t go quickly to the shitpits. Basically the most relevant metric here is “potential interestingness”. Q: Jason moofang’s fuzzy definition of interestingness you mean Yes. Q: Shouldn’t this really be called “Jason moofang’s guttural nearly-arbitrary ranking of nearly arbitrarily selected shows” then? No- well… … Fine, be that way.

Spoilered: What are brainmarks? (Revised)

Show

Oh, and as a bonus, since I don’t actually check out everything anymore, you get to yell at me in the comments if you think I missed a good show. And with that out of the way, let’s dive in.

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Brainmarks return for Fall 2012!

By Jason "moofang"

On October 26, 2012

In Anime/Manga, Brainmarks

After a two-season hiatus, here we go again with Jason moofang’s super-late ranked impressions of the season! What the heck are brainmarks you ask? Here’s the old paste of the FAQ:

Spoilered: What are brainmarks?	Select Show
Q: Wait wha? This is basically me jumping on the season preview/season impression posts bandwagon that basically contains just about every other aniblogger except me. Since I’m actually checking out the entire spectrum of shows with my housemate nowadays I figured it’s finally time. Q: …”Brainmarks”? Picture the entire season’s offerings swirling around in a state of interminable chaos in your feral brain. Now picture fishing a number of shows out of that mess and pinning it up neatly – marking them for further exploration and investigation. That’s making brainmarks, and that’s what this post does for you. As a bonus I even rank them. And yes, I like inventing words (remember photoogling?). Q: Aren’t you just jelly about Blogsuki’s aptly named “Thin-slicing” posts? Why not at all. Whoever gave you that idea? whistle Q: Uh okay. So basically any show that appears here is great, and any that doesn’t sucks? Well, no- maybe. Lousy shows obviously won’t show up here, but I may give shows that use mostly recycled material/strategies a pass as well, even if they are relatively well done and entertaining. Conversely, not so well executed shows that do something interesting or that show potential for interesting development may show up, but there is of course no guarantee those won’t go quickly to the shitpits. Basically the most relevant metric here is “potential interestingness”. Q: Jason moofang’s fuzzy definition of interestingness you mean Yes. Q: Shouldn’t this really be called “Jason moofang’s guttural nearly-arbitrary ranking of nearly arbitrarily selected shows” then? No- well… … Fine, be that way.

Spoilered: What are brainmarks?

Show

Fall 2012 hasn’t been quite as spectacular as I had hoped it’d be viewing the previews. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty to watch – there just isn’t a lot of promise as far as hitting pantheon-class is concerned. In general there seems to be a lack of ambitiously premised shows, made up for somewhat by the abundance of simpler but nonetheless entertaining offerings. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does take away a little from the anticipation, compared for example to Fall last year.

Being the slowpoke that I am, I’m actually a couple weeks behind on most of these shows, so I’m just gonna go it clean and announce the number of episodes I’ve seen of each brainmarked show at the time of this writing. Also, amongst equally mediocre crop, I tend to favor those of the slice of life and comedic genre as a matter of personal taste. With that caveat in mind, let us dive in!

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Winter 2012 Brainmarks!

By Jason "moofang"

On February 7, 2012

In Anime/Manga, Brainmarks

At last! And I can even blame my lateness on BRS, who only just aired.

What are brainmarks? FAQ follows for those who need it:

Spoilered: What are brainmarks?	Select Show
Q: Wait wha? This is basically me jumping on the season preview/season impression posts bandwagon that basically contains just about every other aniblogger except me. Since I’m actually checking out the entire spectrum of shows with my housemate nowadays I figured it’s finally time. Q: …”Brainmarks”? Picture the entire season’s offerings swirling around in a state of interminable chaos in your feral brain. Now picture fishing a number of shows out of that mess and pinning it up neatly – marking them for further exploration and investigation. That’s making brainmarks, and that’s what this post does for you. As a bonus I even rank them. And yes, I like inventing words (remember photoogling?). Q: Aren’t you just jelly about Blogsuki’s aptly named “Thin-slicing” posts? Why not at all. Whoever gave you that idea? whistle Q: Uh okay. So basically any show that appears here is great, and any that doesn’t sucks? Well, no- maybe. Lousy shows obviously won’t show up here, but I may give shows that use mostly recycled material/strategies a pass as well, even if they are relatively well done and entertaining. Conversely, not so well executed shows that do something interesting or that show potential for interesting development may show up, but there is of course no guarantee those won’t go quickly to the shitpits. Basically the most relevant metric here is “potential interestingness”. Q: Jason moofang’s fuzzy definition of interestingness you mean Yes. Q: Shouldn’t this really be called “Jason moofang’s guttural nearly-arbitrary ranking of nearly arbitrarily selected shows” then? No- well… … Fine, be that way.

Spoilered: What are brainmarks?

Show

Not everyone seems to agree, but as far as I can tell Winter is a fairly lacklustre season, coming in the wake of a comparatively awesome Fall. Still, that doesn’t quite mean that there is nothing worth watching, and as usual we’re here to do a little ranked enumeration of the noteworthy stuff.

7 brainmarks this season! Hit the jump and we’re off!

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Fall 2011 Brainmarks!

By Jason "moofang"

On October 25, 2011

In Anime/Manga, Brainmarks, Fate/Zero

We we we so excited~~~

What can I say, it’s a phenomenal season.

For those who missed the previous (and first) brainmarks post, here’s a little FAQ thing:

Spoilered: What are brainmarks?	Select Show
Q: Wait wha? This is basically me jumping on the season preview/season impression posts bandwagon that basically contains just about every other aniblogger except me. Since I’m actually checking out the entire spectrum of shows with my housemate nowadays I figured it’s finally time. Q: …”Brainmarks”? Picture the entire season’s offerings swirling around in a state of interminable chaos in your feral brain. Now picture fishing a number of shows out of that mess and pinning it up neatly – marking them for further exploration and investigation. That’s making brainmarks, and that’s what this post does for you. As a bonus I even rank them. And yes, I like inventing words (remember photoogling?). Q: Aren’t you just jelly about Blogsuki’s aptly named “Thin-slicing” posts? Why not at all. Whoever gave you that idea? whistle Q: Uh okay. So basically any show that appears here is great, and any that doesn’t sucks? Well, no- maybe. Lousy shows obviously won’t show up here, but I may give shows that use mostly recycled material/strategies a pass as well, even if they are relatively well done and entertaining. Conversely, not so well executed shows that do something interesting or that show potential for interesting development may show up, but there is of course no guarantee those won’t go quickly to the shitpits. Basically the most relevant metric here is “potential interestingness”. Q: Jason moofang’s fuzzy definition of interestingness you mean Yes. Q: Shouldn’t this really be called “Jason moofang’s guttural nearly-arbitrary ranking of nearly arbitrarily selected shows” then? No- well… … Fine, be that way.

Spoilered: What are brainmarks?

Show

I know I’m late as hell, but I guess that’s becoming normal :( It does mean that I managed to watch at least 2 episodes of all the shows I’m going to list though, so hopefully that somehow translates into better perspective and depth :)

Here we go!

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Summer 2011 Brainmarks!

By Jason "moofang"

On July 19, 2011

In Anime/Manga, Brainmarks

Q: Wait wha?
This is basically me jumping on the season preview/season impression posts bandwagon that basically contains just about every other aniblogger except me. Since I’m actually checking out the entire spectrum of shows with my housemate nowadays I figured it’s finally time.

Q: …”Brainmarks”?
Picture the entire season’s offerings swirling around in a state of interminable chaos in your feral brain. Now picture fishing a number of shows out of that mess and pinning it up neatly – marking them for further exploration and investigation. That’s making brainmarks, and that’s what this post does for you. As a bonus I even rank them. And yes, I like inventing words (remember photoogling?).

Q: Aren’t you just jelly about Blogsuki’s aptly named “Thin-slicing” posts?
Why not at all. Whoever gave you that idea? *whistle*

Q: Uh okay. So basically any show that appears here is great, and any that doesn’t sucks?
Well, no- maybe. Lousy shows obviously won’t show up here, but I may give shows that use mostly recycled material/strategies a pass as well, even if they are relatively well done and entertaining. Conversely, not so well executed shows that do something interesting or that show potential for interesting development may show up, but there is of course no guarantee those won’t go quickly to the shitpits. Basically the most relevant metric here is “potential interestingness”.

Q: Jason moofang’s fuzzy definition of interestingness you mean
Yes.

Q: Shouldn’t this really be called “Jason moofang’s guttural nearly-arbitrary ranking of nearly arbitrarily selected shows” then?
No- well…
…
Fine, be that way.

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