Miscellaneous / Random Musings

Random Musings – Changing Web Hosting

  • As I’m sure all our regular readers are aware of by now, the site’s been down since Wednesday afternoon. I’ve had a bunch of people contact me about it already by e-mail and on my MAL page and had no ETA on when I would get things back up. Well after working on the issue for the better part of the past three days, I’m happy to announce that Random Curiosity is back up and ready to go.
  • Long story short, my web host suddenly pulled the plug on me with no warning, forcing me to find an a new provider. With the help of Mentar from Eclipse, I was able to get things up and running much quicker than I was anticipating, so a big thank you goes out to him for helping RC out both past and present. If you’re seeing this post, it means the updated DNS records have already propagated to your machine and you’re already on the new server.
  • Migrating the site over and re-uploading all the content took the longest time, but I ran into a few hiccups with the server-side configuration and had to spend long hours sorting them out as well. Aside from the time lost blogging-wise and significantly more expensive cost, I think the downtime and money invested is worth it in the long-run. Gone are the days of sharing CPU and only having ~700MB RAM, as the site now resides on a dedicated server with an Intel i7 920 quad core, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and dual 1TB drives in RAID-1. What that should translate to is a much faster loading site and possibly even a Random Curiosity forum in the future.
  • In terms of the blogging backlog, I asked the other writers to continue working on posts offline, so there has been some progress even while the site’s been down. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for myself since I’ve been working endlessly to get the server back up, so it’ll take me a while to get through my shows. Regardless, you can probably expect a huge influx of posts in the upcoming days. Personally, I’m a bit drained from working on all this server stuff, so I won’t be posting anything until tomorrow. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
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    First Impressions / Series Introduction / Yosuga no Sora

    Yosuga no Sora – 01

    「ハルカナキオク」 (Haruka na Kioku)
    “Distant Memories”

    Well, it looks like my question surrounding whether or not this would be a fairly clean adaptation was answered this very first episode. feel studio isn’t being shy about playing the twin incest angle, even though it’s been portrayed as something that innocently developed during childhood.

    First Impressions / Hakuouki

    Hakuouki Hekketsuroku – 13

    I’ve been wondering what’s up with the Western-style clothing. Hijikata gives the Shinsengumi these clothes as an alternative to Japanese ones. He cut his hair too!

    「焔の如く」 (Homura no Gotoku)
    “Like a Blaze”

    As I’ve briefly mentioned, Hakuouki is now considered a Monday show in light of AT-X airing a double-header when every other station only aired the recap special. That kind of handcuffs me blogging-wise, but the struggles of the Shinsengumi in their losing fight against pro-Imperial forces has me excited about the direction of this sequel.

    First Impressions / Series Introduction / Shinryaku! Ika Musume

    Shinryaku! Ika Musume – 01

    Ika Musume is here to subjugate mankind for polluting the ocean! Too bad nobody cares.

    「侵略しなイカ？／同胞じゃなイカ？／最強じゃなイカ？」
    (Shinryaku Shinai ka? / Douhou Janai ka? / Saikyou Janai ka?)
    “Aren’t I Invading? / Aren’t You a Fellow Brethren? / Isn’t She the Most Powerful?”

    The invasion of the squid girl is here! While I enjoyed the bit of the manga I read in preparation for this adaptation, it’s far better animated than even I was expecting. Diomedea’s animation is crisp and the lush colors have a lot of “pop”. Best of all, Ika Musume herself is absolutely adorable with the way Kanemoto Hisako plays her.

    First Impressions / Series Introduction / Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

    Shinrei Tantei Yakumo – 01

    「File 01: 開かずの間」 (File 01: Akazu no Ma)
    “The Forbidden Room”

    I never read the manga for an anime I’m going to watch, since it usually builds unwanted expectations. When I learned that Yakumo blew through over 120 pages of material in just one episode, I couldn’t help but take a gander at the manga. And now I really, really regret that I do. I mean, imagine having to cover 120 pages of manga material, over 40 pages per chapter, in just one 30 minute episode. Can it be done?

    First Impressions / Hakuouki / Series Introduction

    Hakuouki Hekketsuroku – Special

    Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizou (Miki Shinichirou).

    「特別編 京都回想録」 (Tokubetsu-hen – Kyouto Kaisouroku)
    “Special Chapter – Memories of Kyoto”

    Despite the “Hekketsuroku” addition to the title, this is a direct continuation of the series that aired back in spring, hence the episode number thirteen next time. Normally the numbering wouldn’t matter, but in the case of Hakuouki, they treated this as the midpoint of the series and used it to recap. What a way to premiere a sequel. With a recap… -_-;

    * Note: I just realized the actual episode 13 aired right after on AT-X on Monday. I’ll cover it in the upcoming days. Consider this a season one primer.

    First Impressions / Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai / Series Introduction

    Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai – 01

    I don’t know if Kyousuke was looking at Kirino’s eyes or about 30cm below, but I know where I was. It was her eyes of course!

    「俺が妹と恋をするわけがない」 (Ore ga Imouto to Koi wo Suru Wake ga Nai)
    “There’s No Way I’m in Love with My Sister”

    The model middle school student is secretly a younger sister-obsessed erotic game maniac! In actuality, it’s not quite that bad, but it sure sounds more interesting when I say she poses for pictures to earn money for feeding her addiction. It’s all about taking stuff out of context.