Sunday, December 11, 2011

And now for something a little spiffy... (Flower Graffiti)

So, recently, I've been a little (read: enormously) political active. I won't talk too much about the specifics because this blog is NOT about politics, but rather about Art and Nerd culture. However, I have found out about a neat little movement that certainly files under the art section, and depending on your love of chemistry, might qualify as nerdy:



Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the Seed Bomb. In an urban world where the only green you might see is weeds, the Guerrilla Gardening movement aims to give power to the people in the form of tiny balls of clay, seeds, and fertilizer. The beautiful thing about this, like most pieces of art, they can represent anything that matters to you. You can choose to plant wild flowers in colors that represent what you're passionate about, or you can even plant herbs or small veggie/fruit plants for the community to share. The possibilities are seemingly endless.

Of course, if planted on private property that you do not own, this is technically illegal. I say "technically" because if someone wanted to be a total asshole about flowers being planted on undeveloped land, and could prove you were behind it, you could be held accountable. However, if you choose to do it in an area covered with weeds, it becomes increasingly unlikely that someone would bother raising a stink over some pretty flowers. But since this DOES cover an illegal subject, I MUST include this disclaimer:

Nerdspiffy.com and her webmistress does NOT condone any graffiti of any sort, be it with paint or flowers. This post is merely intending to inform people that this movement is out there. It is not telling you to go out there and do it. If you do it, get caught, and say this blog post did it, fuck you. You are in control of your own actions. Please try to get permission first before attempting any of these practices.


That being said, let's move on to the different types of seed bombs there are.

First up is the seed pill, my personal favorite.

Do NOT make me write a disclaimer against taking these.
God, there's someone stupid enough to swallow one, isn't there?
Fuck it, here you go retards: Don't do it.
These are a bit trickier to make, but they're the least conspicuous and probably the best ones to use. You can get the capsules at a vegan store or order them online (make sure they're biodegradable-- dissolving with water is a must! Fill them with the seeds of your choice, a little bit of eco-friendly fertilizer, and close it up. You can either toss them onto the lot of your choosing or pop them into the dirt.

The next one up is a classic: clay seed balls.

These seed grenades are awesome AND available for sale.
I totally want them. ;_;

The general rule is to do a 5:1:1 ratio of clay soil, compost, and seeds, binding the mixture together with water. You can get pretty creative with these-- one man pours them into gun molds! However, even those this is a classic, this isn't without its draw backs. If you use it in hot, dry areas, it could bake solid, preventing the seeds from growing. So don't use this if you live in an area as dry as Rosie O'Donnell. Texas, I'm looking at you.

Beyond these, there are other interesting methods, like using balloons to scatter/drop the seeds and clay balls, or putting the materials in egg shells of all things. These aren't methods that I'd use, so I haven't researched them very much-- if this post sparks your interest, definitely look into it. Desertification and deforestation has definitely become a problem, so even if there isn't a larger political message you want to get behind, there is nothing wrong with getting out and planting some wildlife. If you don't want to make these yourself, but just want to toss them around, definitely look into buying them-- but be careful! Several sites I've found don't make them right or let the seed bombs dry out too much, which runs into the problem I've mentioned before.

And if you do decide to plant these-- if you live in an area that doesn't get a lot of rain, be sure to water your seed bombs every once in a while! And if you remember to use fertilizer or compost, you'll see results in no time.

That concludes my spiffy update for today. If I manage to get around to this, I'll take some pictures and upload them for you guys! See you next time~

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Under Construction!

You'll notice some changes around here-- I have decided to change my blog up some!

For the next few days, the layout is going to be tinkered with here and there. Hopefully it'll be a lot sleeker.

Thank you for being patient everyone!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Sexy Disgusting Perverse Angelic (Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt Review)

WARNING
The following blog post is extremely sexy in nature. Anyone who reads it shall surely be under my spell and will be forced to get a huge naked dog pile with me. Should you feel hot under the collar, DO NOT turn on Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. This will only make it worse. Reader discretion advised.

I could totally get behind this idea of heaven.
How the hell do you even start on an anime like this? Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is without a doubt one of the most memorable and clearly the most insane shows I have EVER seen. "Two angel sisters attempt to get to Heaven by destroying ghosts and demons with the help of a preacher."  Seems like an entirely innocent premise, right? I can only imagine someone in the studio took a hit of something, went silent for a good five minutes, and said, "Oh my god... you know what? No one's ever done? An angel series about the disgusting parts of human life. And I don't mean any of that psychological nonsense. I mean, like, about nose picking, shit, and all that stuff."

"Dude, you're high," the other writers will say. "No way that can be done."

"You're saying it can't be done," the stone writer repeated, more to himself than to anyone else.

"No way!" The others said, laughing.

"...."
this is the first time i've ever made a meme pic
and i am entirely ashamed of myself

So for whatever the reason, we ended up with the mess that is Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Because it doesn't have a main plot to tie the episodes together in a chronological order, and because it isn't serious, it's hard to review it in the way that I normally do. But let's see if I can tackle it anyways.

Overall Plot
Like I said before, because there isn't a main plot to tie them together in a chronological order, as far as plot goes, you have to take it for what it's worth episode to episode. For the most part, the series centers around Panty and Stocking, two angel sisters who are for some unexplained reason on Earth instead of in Heaven. They must destroy ghosts that seek to create chaos in Daten City, and every time a ghost is destroyed, it'll drop a coin called a "Heaven." Collecting these Heavens will let them actually go back to the real Heaven. However, Panty and Stocking are not your typical angels.


Panty, the older angel, is a blonde bombshell. As depicted in the opening, she's always got sex and boys on the brain-- if she can't fuck it, she's gonna ignore it. Stocking, the little sister is obsessed with a different cardinal sin, gluttony. She eats sugary things all day, never exercises, and never cares. She's pretty gothic for an angel. Somehow, humanity's faith rests in the hands of these two.

The unlikely hero trope isn't new by any means, but I've never seen the extent this show takes. I've never seen an actual episode about the pleasures of nose picking and all the stuff this takes on. It's revolting, but it's also weird and humorous at the same time. It's hard to pin down. It's original in its implementation, that's for sure.

Grade: A
For doing something old in a new way. Completely unforgettable.

Art
Although PaSwG is an anime, the art style is pretty much influenced by western art. In fact, I thought it was an English show until I saw the subtitled version. In fact, the story itself could arguably take place in America. The art style itself seems ripped from Powerpuff Girls, which is pretty cool for me since I've always loved that --




You know what? I'm sorry. I can't take this anime seriously. That's not a bad thing, because it's not supposed to be taken seriously. But oh my god, I can't. I just can't. Why review it? It's a masterpiece of fucked up perversion. It doesn't need to make sense.

Just watch it yourself and tell me what you think.

My overall grade? I just told you, I can't grade it.

Okay. I give it a #.

Doesn't make sense? Well fuck you it doesn't need to. See you next time.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Great Revival, Jena von Karma.



Okay, enough tooting my own horn. While last time I was saying I was going to try to come back, recent events have heralded my definite return. I won't go into details into my reasons, but my current work became a rather toxic environment (sexual harassment and a stalker situation to summarize it). So I get to fall back onto one of my favorite jobs of all time: blogging.

I mentioned before that I would get into reviewing Walking Dead, but given the fact that the next volume is coming out soon, I'm going to wait to specifically review that one. There are fortunately a number of anime series I have watched (that are fairly new) so I'm going to focus this week on those. Expect reviews of Eden of the East, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, and others. I also intend to do my first webcomic reviews, as well as talk a little bit more about my visual novel, Lotus Burst, currently in production.

I will be back tomorrow with my first review in a long time. But to hold you off for now, here are a few CG images/promotional works from Lotus Burst.




Artwork by http://marynna-chan.deviantart.com/
Please like us at http://www.facebook.com/lotus.burst

Friday, September 30, 2011

I... I am alive!

I'm so very, very sorry for letting this little blog of mine fall into despair... but you see, I have some news!

First up, I got a job back in July. I'm just a simple barista at a cafe, but it brings in some money and eats up a fair amount of time! It's in a bookstore so I get to read plenty of free comics and manga now, and meeting many other nerds... so I am slowly slipping further and further into my nerd circle. orz help me

Next up, remember that visual novel I mentioned working on? Weeeeelll.... It's sort of full-speed ahead. I'll dedicate more posts to it in the future, so I'll leave it short here. Feel free to visit Facebook.com/lotus.burst to check it out though!

Then throw in tiny things like school, additional projects, and all that jazz, and you get one very tired blogger with little time for blogging! I shall try changing that, but I can't promise anything... But god help me, I'll try!

I'm going to try reviewing a western comic book for once: WALKING DEAD. Expect it next time!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

30DAPC: Day 3

Day 3
Your anime crush

...

Well that's a creepy subject. But sadly, I can already think of a few that might fit into this category.

The "Cuteness"
"I can have ice cream, or put a stop to that serial killer. Hmmm...."
In the grand Kira vs L debate, I always sided with L, disagreeing with Kira on every level even before L's character was fully introduced. Considering the fact that (at least from what I can remember) he doesn't actually work for the police, you have to imagine that L's involvement in the Kira case was mostly a gut call on his part, so I always liked that. Beyond that, he was pretty smart and used Kira's own cockiness against him, and I've always liked it when cocky people were put in their place. So before L was introduced, I already liked him on an intellectual level.

And then he was introduced.

My god, is this man absolutely adorable. He's brilliant but a bit socially awkward, addicted to sweets, and although he works in a very grim field, he has a side of him that is adorably innocent. He's one of the few characters that you can see as an adorable chibi and not go, "Holy shit that is so wrong don't do that."

So my "cute crush" would have to be L.

The Stylish Devil
If you looked this good, your sister want would fuck you too.
And here's the man that I wish I didn't like: Akio Ohtori from Revolutionary Girl Utena. I really hate that I like this character. Believe me, I do. He's a monster. He has sex with every man, woman, child, monkey, car, and heavenly being in the entire series. But oh god. Does he have a style about him.

I can't really explain it. He's bad, he knows he's bad, and he's unapologetic. Yet as the other various characters are drawn to him, I found myself getting drawn to him to. Maybe all women do want jerks. I'm a horrible person. I'm a weak person. But I had a dream about him once. I don't know why, I don't usually have dreams about fictional characters. I don't have that sort of problem that makes me think he's real! But... I still had a dream about him. Twice. And oh. Was it a special dream. It was so special, when that part of the dream passed, my dream self SUDDENLY BECAME AWARE IT WAS A DREAM IN AN ATTEMPT TO LUCID DREAM HER WAY BACK TO HIM.

i need to move on before i reveal anything more embarassing

That Crazy Bitch
Eeeellllll Kabong!
There's that one character that's just so weird, energetic, that you can't help but fall in love with them. So it's no surprise that Haruko Haruhara from FLCL would round out my choices of crushes. It's both easy and hard to say what the appeal to her is. If someone were to meet her in real life, they'd be very, very scared. But in this setting she's absolutely perfect. Not to mention the fanservice... oh, the fanservice. Even when I watched this delightfully insane character when I was 12 (when it first started to air in the US), I knew there was something truly special about her. She, without a doubt, is one of those classic favorites for any anime fan.


(Just a note, yes, it's been a while since my last post, and I should be around day 10. However I've been pretty busy with summer college courses and I hate to leave any gaps... so yeah, gonna continue this way. Maybe I'll do a few double posts. I don't know. Oh well!)

See you later.