Reading me a new book: Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland. So yes, I can read books but only if they are of the mystery genre and have a samurai for the main character. I'm not immediately hooked on this one. The protagonist Sano Ichiro cannot shatter a boulder with his fist, nor does he have a remarkable on base percentage. He's actually a scholar who had to accept his position as a Yoriki. A Yoriki is... well... think about that dickish cop guy from Way of the Samurai 2. Then again, it's hard to top a guy who defeated five ninjas in a "realistic" setting and only seemed to find an equal in the "current" timeline in Tadakatsu Freakin' Honda. Also, this one takes place sixty some years after Matsuyama's journey so we're are on our fourth generation of Tokugawas, the Oda are probably forgotten, and even Musashi is dead at this point. In its defense though, I think it might be more elaborate and more of a true mystery.

Next time we game, I want to be a Hexblade. Mirror Image + Melee skills ftw. Too bad they have to be nongood; the little part of my brain that wants to subvert every new class wants to make him a decent chap cursed with a deathly aura as opposed to the gothy elf with eyeshadow who made me ignore the class altogether for two years.

John Hodgman hasn't been fall down funny on The Daily Show the past few times. [Edit:] Until he started licking paintings.

Apparently David Arquette made a horror movie called The Tripper. That sounds less than intimidating, in a "I Garland Shall Knock You All Down" kind of way.

In news that doesn't have a nerdy reference in it, I really want to go to Martial Arts Club again. On Wednesday but not Mondays because that's when Heroes is on--DAMMIT!

Well it turns out that Samurai Warriors wasn't the only thing that gave me perspective reading the Samurai Mystery series. It turns out that Kannon, the figure Matsuyama carves in memorial of his victims (Yeah I know, kinda serial killer-y), is a Japanese pronunciation of the mythological Guan Yin, who is commonly depicted alongside the famous Chinese warrior...

*wait for it*

Guan Yu!

( Speaking of which, Guan Yu is bringing sexy back. )

I finished Jade Palace Vendetta and now I'm about 40% into Kill the Shogun. It's pretty good, but I feel that calling the series Samurai Mystery is a bit of a misnomer. Basically, if they don't identify something, it's the spoiler/mystery. For example, if a character says "Yeah, that's him." but doesn't specifically name "him", odds are his identity is key to the story. Playing Samurai Warriors or simply having some knowledge of the Sengoku era helps clarify some of the names. Also Ninjas.

*deep breath*

The main character Matsuyama Kaze (literally: "Wind of Pine Mountain") is the samurai of a lord who was loyal to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Battle of Sekigahara. Kaze's real name hasn't been revealed (despite having read it on a wanted poster), which either means it's totally insignificant or he's someone of historical significance. The current Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his famous vassal Honda Tadakatsu are very important characters in the third book.

Some awesome notes:

• Apparently Edo was in a state of total flux following the end of the Sengoku era and Tokugawa's claiming the title of Shogun. It sounds obvious that the people should be that way, but the land and the buildings were in flux too. Cheap buildings were going up overnight, lords were kicking people off land to make homes and castles, and when there were fires in the interconnected houses they would have to tear down houses to stop the flames. Of course, considering many of the firemen were carpenters they were often overzealous about it.
• Matsuyama once intimidated some ruffians who were roughing up a melon salesman by rolling a melon up and down his sword before slicing it in two, and catching his half while the ruffian couldn't catch his.
• There's a character called "Elder Grandma" who dresses like a samurai in jacket and hakama and spends the majority of the story wearing a headband with the kanji for revenge on it.
• Maybe it's not awesome, but merchants ranked lower in society than peasants.
• Rather than some sort of uber manly name, Kaze's new sword is called "Flycutter" because it was so well balanced he could slice a fly in half while in flight. Then again, the mighty Kusanagi means "grasscutter".

Will, was this the D&D 4.0 article you found the other day?

Today was a good day, if only for the fact that it wasn't house crap ==> laptop ==> dinner ==> Monster Hunter like the past four or so days. Got out and saw Will, and kind of said some stuff I've been thinking about for a while which was good.

Ever hear something so wrong you had to think it over for, like, half an hour just to sort out its wrongness? I had one of those today, and it got me to thinking about this Japanese poem.

( Yes, my mind is really just bouncing around from place to place today. )

I was going to make one of those "Interests Collage" but mine contained a curious amount of Asian porn and Destiny's Child.

Watched most of Knights Tale today and then watched some new anime along with the premiere of Bleach. I almost wish I hadn't watched so much of the show now, knowing that it's really good and that most of this year and probably next will be stuff I've already seen. Anyway, tomorrow is Ren Faire. I'm looking forward to it even though I forgot my hat and my sword can practically turn 90 degrees at the handle. I just really need to be sure to take money out of the ATM because I have five dollars.

( Note to self )

Also, the idea jokingly came up tonight that I should write a character litmus test to see if I will or will not like a character. Perhaps I'll follow through with that when I have more time.