Article on the Fat Cat bankers

Obama and the Fat Cat Bankers -- WSJ opinion from my bizorgs professor.

Book Review: Dreadnought

I've recently completed Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War (1991).

This was a truly exceptional book covering the interesting naval buildup between Britain and Germany before World War 1. Massie covers the period with a series of character studies looking at key players in Britain and Germany. The result is a series of mini-biographies that reveal the interesting interplay of the various characters and provide a truly compelling story. The reader sees the events through the eyes of the various players and has a good sense of their motivation and intentions. This is one of the best books I've read and I'm looking forward to Castles of Steel (his follow-up book).

Intelligence Failure

I like this WSJ editorial regarding the mistake of applying 4th Am reasonable suspicion standards in intelligence gathering.

Peacemaker Kurogane: Series Review

I just finished watching all 24 episodes of Peacemaker Kurogane in a span of two days. What a strange, strange show. And not particularly good, either. Luckily, the anime is very short, so it wasn't TOO big of a time vortex. Once I'm done with this review, I can get back to studying...

There were a lot of things to dislike about the show:

First and foremost, its main character, Tetsu, was a short little red-haired brat that was really difficult to like. He's supposed to be a real historical figure, but in the show he was extremely annoying. So was the little personality-less mute girl that he had a crush on. (Yet another example of annoying anime females, sigh.)

Second, the plot was really weird and incomprehensible in the middle -- there was some weird stuff about esoteric encantations and this odd gay "Lord" Maro villain that just came out of nowhere. And actually, the overall the plot was not particularly interesting, since we all know what happens to the Choshu clan at Ikedaya Inn...

Third, there were no good evil characters. The main villain, Yoshida, ended up kind of being a disappointment. I suspect the manga takes Yoshida's page, Suzu, and makes HIM into a villain, but the anime ended before that happened, so I don't know if he turned out to be a good villain. But really, the show really lacked compelling evildoers.

But there were also some things to like:

I think I really enjoy anime set around the Bakumatsu and the Restoration. (Rurouni Kenshin, of course, is also set during this time, though that story is told from the POV of the Imperialists, whereas this one is told from the side of the Shinsengumi, who work for the shogunate.) I think the time period is fascinating, and I loved that the anime took time to explore the historical characters from the Shinsengumi. Maybe that's why I wasn't TOO bored when the show just spent episode after episode developing characters like Saitoh and Sano and Nagakura and Yamanami that really weren't important, plot-wise, but are all real historical figures. I just enjoyed "getting to know" one fictional version of the Shinsengumi.

The animation was all right. Not great, not terrible. I didn't like the design of a lot of the characters (e.g., Tetsu, Nagakura, Saya, Suzu), but others were interesting.

The ones I found most intriguing, actually, were the random gender-benders. Like Okita (pictured right)! He was such a fun character to watch. When he first appeared in the show, I thought he was a woman. That was on purpose, of course. Okita is one of several characters in the show that had effeminate features and displayed effeminate behaviors. (The cross-dressing spy, Susume, is another.)

What was also amusing was the gay subtext (or just text -- not so subtle, actually) all over the place, too. It made the show fun to watch. Will the demonic vice commander Hijikata admit his love for Okita before the latter dies of tuberculosis? Will Suzu ever stop carrying around the decapitated head of the master he's in love with?

In the end, this show lacked the narrative punch (and cool villains) that the Kyoto Arc of Rurouni Kenshin had. It also only had one or two cool sword fight scenes (though the ones it had were quite bloody, which I liked). And the characters weren't as compelling. But it was still fun to watch, if only because of the historical setting.

It's just funny to watch the show end after the Shinsengumi's big victory at Ikedaya Inn, because you know that eventually the shogunate loses. Haha.