Celebrating a New Chapter of Demian

 Same ol' refrain: no time, no time, no time. But this little corner of the web has been neglected for so long I figure I gotta do something! So, time to cheat. Today's post will be all (good!) links.

The World God Only Knows

Wow, it's been a busy month. School. Lots and lots of it. This weekend is the dreaded presentation, my first time presenting at an academic conference. I get to do it on Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle though, which is quite exciting! If I can just get over the fear of speaking in front of hoards of people it should be fun. In the meantime, watching the occasional anime keeps me sane (Honto ka?), and right now I've just started on Crunchyroll's new fall anime The World God Only Knows.

Hanasakeru Seishounen Review

It's kind of ironic that my first real review here covers a shoujo anime series. Don't think I usually go in for shoujo or, if I do, I prefer parodies like Ouran High School Host Club. Something about the obsessively narrow focus on sticky-sweet romance with perfectly unbelievable plot twists that makes me cringe. Again, unless it makes fun of itself, like OHSHC. In the case of Hanasakeru, I came across it while browsing for something new on Crunchyroll and for some reason found myself tearing through the episodes. Some reason probably being the start of the new semester.

Making of an Otaku

I've done a lot of moving since starting my undergrad studies, taking the transience of college life to something of an extreme. I did try to take root and make connections at first, spending all of first-year at New College of Florida in Sarasota. Then I decided to give the National Student Exchange a try and spent a semester up in Boston. Too expensive to stay the full year, so I made the trek back to Sarasota for, oh, about another year. Then I upped and moved to Charlottesville, VA for a while, followed by Boston again, and back to Charlottesville... Until finally I ended up at home with the 'rents about two months ago where I hope to stay put for at least a year.

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

Okay, so this isn't really otaku or even Japan-related. But scones are wonderful delicious little treats, so don't complain! I've been reading Diana Wynne Jones's House of Many Ways aloud to my parents lately, and there is so much mention of Afternoon Tea, crumpets dripping with butter, and Mr. Baker's amazing pasties that I couldn't take it anymore. I spent a good twenty minutes looking online for vegan scone recipes. I'm not vegan, but I can't do dairy. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to post healthy vegan recipes. What's with the craze for healthy?? When I eat a scone it's for the yummy flavor. So, I tore apart about three recipes, pieced the best bits together, and added a few tweaks of my own. Here's the patchwork result. Oh, and there's no reason why you have to stick with non-dairy. Go ahead and use real butter and milk if you prefer. That being said, these scones are truly decadent as-is.

Which Is Truly Full of Otaku

Tomorrow is Hachigatsu Bon, or the August celebration of Obon. What is Obon? It is a Japanese Buddhist festival held in honor of the dead, similar to the Mexican Day of the Dead. Offerings are made to one's ancestors to make their time in the afterlife more comfortable, and paper lanterns called toro nagashi are lit and floated on the water to signal the spirits' return to... well, wherever it is they return to. To be honest I am not very well informed on Japanese theological matters and I've not have much luck finding good sources of information.

Which Is the First of (Hopefully) Many Recipes

Anyone who knows me knows I have a mild addiction to tea. That may be putting it mildly. During the winter months in Charlottesville and Boston this year, I found myself consuming record-breaking (for me, at least) quantities, sometimes in the realm of 15 cups a day. It was a great way to stay warm and an even better way to procrastinate from writing. It's entirely possible that my roommates mistook a teacup for an extension of my hand, since I was very rarely without one.