Saturday, May 24, 2014

CNY 2014, Vienna: Disinterested Foreigners, Dead Pianists, and yet more Schnitzel.

If you're a charitable sort of person, or if you're the type that enjoys picking up on irreverent factual tidbits and annoying helpless people, there's a lot to feel sorry for the Viennese. In case you're wondering, German is the official language in Austria, and once in the capital you'll only see 'Vienna' in English text. Everywhere else, it's 'Wien', and the people living there are called 'Wiener'- interestingly enough the Germans saw fit to name a sausage after them (Viennese have the sense not to use the term- they call it 'frankfurter' instead, according to Wikipedia). On a vastly larger scale, most people either think Austria is either a province of Germany, or hear 'Australia' instead. The latter point can be applied to Australians as well, I guess. Anyway, after Munich, Vienna- the second destination on our trip.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Gundam Build Fighters (2013): Winner of the Marketing Plan of the Year Award

It is probably fair to say that the Gundam fandom was split into two factions (again) with the announcement of the 13th television series, Gundam Build Fighter (GBF). Coming right after the show known as a masterpiece, or amusing experiment, or travesty against history known as Gundam Age- the positive side of me can't help but feel that animation house Sunrise used GBF as a platform to give the finger to all their noisy fans believers. The more cynical part of me feels that they are using GBF as a giant marketing ploy... For once, both of us are probably right (judgment courtesy of the third impartial me). Without further ado- on with the obligatory summary.