I loved all the little details that were only on screen for a split second! The one shot where they first meet--I assume all the eggshells in the bird nest implied she had eaten them 😭

There were a couple weirdly fanservicey shots, like the shot that went up that ninja's underwear, but the show is so goofy that I don't really mind. (Also that was a pretty cool animation sequence.) I love Satoko ;-;

The action was also way better than it had any right to be

I loved the creative camera angles (both the action scenes and elsewhere)

Since some blessings are rare, the others must be common enough that a lot of people have the same ones? I wonder if we'll see that at all, since "everyone has a magic power" shows tend to avoid that.

The character designs remind me a lot of The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent, but I don't see any shared staff between the two shows. Diomedéa is listed as a producer (but not the studio) for this show, so maybe there's still some kind of link? Small observation that didn't really bother me--sometimes the animation looked a bit rough, but sometimes it was very nice (e.g. when Sophia bows down and all her hair poofs up for a second).

There were a couple moments where I wasn't sure if they made a mistake or did it on purpose:

• that apple didn't just get crushed, there was nothing left of it
• her face was completely fine before Louis wiped it
• Isaac put his head down to listen for the starter... flag?

it’s been fun trying to guess people’s animal blessings since they don’t say them outright

I also really like the choice to use the gorilla god as a (silent) character that just pops in for cameos; it's hilarious to me

Girls Last Tour

impeccable vibes

Not a traditional domain name registrar (they actually hold the domain for you), but there's https://njal.la/ (they explain the reasoning on their site).

The atrium/birdcage opening shot was nice, and then halfway through they just really decided to hammer that metaphor to death >.> (the rose didn't bother me though. Maybe because the narration didn't keep pointing it out.)

I love how playful the animation is overall. The performance segments felt stiff in comparison, but I appreciate that they at least took the time to mocap actual playing. Maybe this is common? I still appreciate it!

I like classical music too, but I gotta admit, Pavane puts me to sleep... I feel her. Is Pavane culturally notable in Japan for some reason (like Anne of Green Gables)? ::: spoiler Takt Op. mobile game It's also a key part of the (EoS'd) Takt Op. mobile game lore. ::: I've just never really heard it referenced so much outside of anime--is it just me?

oh also: was it implied the school uniform skirts have pockets??? where do I sign up??

I loved the moment they met and how they animated at least a whole day passing by in the blink of an eye for Lilisa

something something u-haul

I laughed when the other classmates were talking about how it was a scene from "a picture", and then in the very next scene the busker is singing about beauty that doesn't show up in pictures. Cheeky.

The "I saw flower petals" comment also made me snort.

The production team is basically showing their hand and saying "yeah, our goal is to make you cry every episode for the entire season". That's ambitious and I like it.

Maybe I'm just easily manipulated, but this first story got me (even with them having to take the time to establish the premise first). It could've hit harder, sure, but it (subjectively ofc) felt like a pretty promising start to me. If I have one thing to nitpick it's actually the soundtrack when she goes into town--it feels out of place? it doesn't mesh and feels frantic. It's entirely possible that it was intentional--I'm willing to trust the story for now.

I loved the cold open! It really efficiently establishes the mood, sets up the magical aspect with the single "tea brewing" shot, and shows us Meg's personality through how others (Ms. Faust and all the animals) interact with her. When people say "show, don't tell", this is what they mean.

didn’t feel slow at all.

there were actually a couple spots I wished lingered a little longer (to sink in), but they were also trying to fit quite a lot into this first episode.

competently directed

There were lots of little touches I really enjoyed! e.g. Ms. Faust being framed in the bottle, the cloud (literally) coming over her face, Anna dissolving into younger Meg. One (subtler) parallel between Anna and Meg I noticed was: Meg is supposedly going to die from a curse, and her teacher ("the greatest witch") cannot save her; while Anna's mom died from an illness, and her dad is apparently a doctor/pharmacist.

It wouldn’t surprise me if it was revealed as all being a trick by the old witch as a character building exercise.

Even if we play along with Ms. Faust here, I feel like there's two layers (kinda) to the whole ordeal---one is she needs to literally collect tears (joy) in order to live the rest of her life, and the other is that she needs that joy to really live, in the carpe diem sense. ... I hope that made sense...

I love that they have scoped labels while GitHub still doesn't

the alternative is that they don't sell replacement parts at all

maybe I'm misunderstanding, but isn't the corresponding alternative in this case "you can use parts from any manufacturer you want"?

... oh damn, I didn't catch that at all. First time hearing about them. (looks like the all caps thing is canonical too)

I guess they're completely unaffiliated with LibreOffice? looks like their product is intended to feel as close to Microsoft as possible

nah. it may not be a huge deal (esp. if you're male) and "screaming" might be exaggerating it, but "keep personal politics out of code" is classic "I consider your existence political".

I'm happy to see if the guy's politics has changed in the years since this happened, and I don't know if their involvement in the project is worthy of a boycott, but those are personal choices (and the relevant comment was even helpfully linked).

OpenOffice is unmaintained, unfortunately (see the LibreOffice page explaining this); LibreOffice considers officially hosting a cloud service out of their scope but Collabora does provide hosting (and you can self-host, of course). Their "Development Edition" is the free version that doesn't come with an SLA.

edit: I can't read

this was my introduction to "10x" engineers: https://youtu.be/kKAue9DiHc0

and if they punish you before the judge says you don't deserve punishment, oh well!

the horrifying thing is on multiple occasions, they've (we've? it's our government) attempted to use this logic to execute people. Some of which we know for sure are innocent.

last year was my first time; looking forward to doing it every year now

because in the long medium term sooner than I imagine, those things are going to happen anyway. Presenting it as a choice between "saving (some) fed employees" vs "fucking them over" is disingenuous. The actual choice is between "ceding power and the news narrative" vs not. People are upset that the Dems keep doing this, despite the long history of "working across the aisle" not working.

To address your specific points: just because there are things the Republicans want, doesn't mean they're "good" for them (see: all? of their policies). In the case of federal employees, passing the "CR" isn't going to get them paid--the GOP doesn't care what the laws say (obviously). The Dems should be obstructing other ridiculous funding bills as well, because the only thing they can do is be in the news cycle for obstruction (and then using that time to sell progressive policies that most people agree with). That's the only leverage they have. This appeasement threw that away. The hive of scum and villainy is only going to continue their illegal cuts, and the correct response is to fight back, not to lend them more legitimacy. Dems have tried that for decades and this is what it's gotten us.

: it's not really a "continuing" resolution, as it has a bunch of Trumpian garbage in it that wasn't in the previous appropriations bill. They're just... calling it that, and Senate Dems have tacitly endorsed it as such.

or even a center strip that "staples" the two halves together with pegs running through holes in the two halves (probably sturdier than glue but also uglier)