In a half-hearted attempt to “get TOH out there,” I have added the story to the Melative Experience Engine.

You can go ahead and visit the info page on Melative if you so desire; from there, you can add TOH to your library! Read it, rate it, post idle updates about it! If you’re not familiar with Melative—don’t be scared! It’s pretty awesome. I could describe its greatness here, but that’s really subject matter for another post entirely.

For now, I will leave you with an info dump courtesy of Melative creator Ryan A‘s latest WordPress plugin for… well, for doing this:

Tundra of Heroes (2010) Web

Description

Tundra of Heroes explores three individuals at three points in time, linking their successes and failures to the rise of the oppressive Holy Empire of Byhr.

Part 1 - Juggling Memories
Byhr Year 51. Mr. Jeuni Huros, a juggler and drunk fool, sees his world turned upside-down when he meets—and kills—a mysterious man. The man's death is a promise and Jeuni soon finds himself embarking on a journey he at once needs and hates.

Part 2 - Excavating Time
Byhr Year -20. Grandpa Snow, professor of archaeology, watches the world pass him by. Or maybe he passed it by. Racing against time to complete a book on his work, he tries to reconnect with his childhood dream.

Part 3 - Conducting a Campaign
Byhr Year 23. In spite of his Cressoan descent, fallen aristocrat Tomora Ynthon is an officer in the Byhryn military. In the hopes of exacting revenge against his homeland, he leads a ragtag but loyal unit of wizard soldiers into the northern mountains.

Tundra of Heroes is not-quite-fantasy. The setting is medieval for aesthetic purposes, but there is no grand quest or epic war here. The tundra draws us in and asks us to reflect on policy and religion, while the character-driven conflicts focus on the fallibility of memory and historical records. Ultimately, TOH is a mellow examination of wrongdoings and responsibility.
(via http://tundraofheroes.com)

Length: 23
Theme: religion, history, memory, imperialism, military, magic, performance, music, archaeology
Mood: dark, comedy, romance
Genre: tragedy

Links: TOH Official Website

---

Miao on My Mind was way too slow to combo, and I’ve been meaning to dismantle it for a while now. With a final push from ghostlightning, I got off my ass and did it. Welcome home, master. This is notdotq again.

Does this mean I’ve stopped hating Jason?

No.

Does this mean I’ve become less of an asshole?

Fuck no.

So what does this mean, you ask?

I’m taking a step back from shit. Twitter and the fast pace of the aniblogosphere are too much for me right now. I want to be writing, not keeping up with trolling/drama. I’m not saying good-bye; I’m merely waving from across the street.

I’m still _here_.

I’ll blog Maria-sama ga Miteru 4 as promised. I’ll keep working on OH! I’ll keep up the collab work with ghostlightning and lelangir. And I’ll keep trolling. But I’m going to be less active, and a better platform for such neutrality is one that does not scream “I am Jason Miao!” “I hate Jason Miao!” I said I wouldn’t rely on my hatred of him in the Anime Blog Awards this year, and I meant it.

I’ll still participate.

I’ll still win.

But it will be with these two hands, dubbed satire and Midori.

*ahem*

I’ve got some resolution for the new year up at Dreams of the Quill. Only a few, really. ‘sphere, what are your thoughts on the new year? Anything you’d like to change in 2009?

And is there anything you’d like to see from me?

Happy New Year!

I wrote a long-ass post on Dreams of the Quill about Episode 4 of Aria the Origination, and, in keeping with the spirit of these posts, I will not link to it now. But. This is definitely one of my favorite episodes of anime, period. Remember the one? Akari wants to help Alicia because Alicia’s so busy, so Alicia tells her to go work a traghetto?

Akari meets three other singles, including two dispirited prima-wannabes, and, with her suteki power, inspires them all to try harder at life.

“Masshiro na START desu”—Akari introduces the idea of a tabula rasa to her peers, teaching them that every time they try something their records are wiped. No matter how many times they’ve failed, they just need to start over and try harder. The pure, unbridled hope in Akari’s cheerful lecture is something I’ve held inside me the last two years as I tried to get over the shortcomings of my past and become a better human being: no matter how shitty I am, I can wipe that clean and start over.

Akari didn’t teach me this lesson, but it was still refreshing to hear it from her lips. Combine that with top-notch execution, and you have one damn good episode of anime.

One day I’m in DotQ‘s admin panel by chance and I see a new comment in moderation. This is pretty infrequent (as noted here, I’m even more unpopular now than I was half a year ago so it’s like, negative comments time), so I’m curious and I investigate. Lo and behold, it’s a pingback! On the Night Switch page! From… Sixten?!

And I’m like, “whoa!” I’m like, “since when did people I insult acknowledge me?!” I’m like, “doesn’t this guy suck Jason’s cock nightly? Surely he must know to avoid me! How come I’m not IP banned on his site yet? Is there something wrong with his brain? Clearly Jason hasn’t scrambled it enough! Anal penetrations moar plzplzplz!!”

When I was over my initial squeeing, I actually read the post.

(Some more serious and respectful comments on his post can be found in a post on Dreams of the Quill that I’m writing at the same time as I’m writing this. Seriously. This post isn’t my official response to Sixten’s post, it’s just classic notdotq-style vitriol and idiocy.)

Upon reading, I immediately become livid. The guy begins his post by not knowing who I am (“he (she?)”), which is unacceptable. He also misspells my handle—”LoliKitsune” instead of “lolikitsune.” He then goes on to namefag me (“I suspect Flak and LoliKit are the same person”), as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. On second thought, I suppose it is natural, for him. After all, it’s his idol Jason who was kind enough to namefag Pete Zaitcev.

Sidenote: I don’t portray myself as a loli kitsune. What’s in a name?

Would not a troll by any other name be as odorous?

Sixten concludes the introduction of his post with a demonstration of his illogic. He “decided it was time to read it” after Flak (I), whom he suspected was lolikitsune (me), posted an idiotic comment on his blog whoring Night Switch. I certainly wouldn’t read anything whored in an idiotic comment by someone who (appears to be) spamming in the name of (important side note: the different handles exist for compartmentalizing of online life and internet spheres, not for tricking people into thinking I’m legion). Even if it had to do with Jason Miao. Never. Wouldn’t happen.

Unless, you know, I was trying to get trolling fodder.

Anyway. After this introduction, Sixten launches into a synopsis of various aspects of Night Switch. He describes the background of the story as he sees it (he’s neither too wrong nor too correct for the summary to be full of idiocy or full of spoilers, respectively), and then has a paragraph for three of the characters in the story, complete with ILLUSTRATIONS.

Yeah right.

There is no way this guy has enough time on his hands to read all of Night Switch, draw pictures, AND blog about it in under twenty hours. That’s right—I made my comment less than twenty hours before this blog post went live. There are two possibilities here: he’s either a liar or a NEET. In the first scenario, he’s actually been reading Night Switch for some time, and the illustrations have been sitting on his computer waiting for the day I would foolishly waltz into his blog and comment. In the second scenario, he actually does have that kind of time on his hands.

But I digress.

(Some of the information in his character descriptions is less than accurate—this is addressed in the aforementioned “official response” on Dreams of the Quill.)

Oddly enough, Sixten’s three selected characters don’t have a 100% overlap with the story’s three main characters. He chose to highlight JTFish’s Pedantic Dachshund character instead of the story’s hero, Amtrak worker and religious fanatic Joe. Well, good on him for ignoring the boring characters I guess. The Geass-toting dog is definitely more interesting than the Tetris-obsessed, people-hating Joe.

Here’s where it gets REALLY good, though: after these summaries of plot and character, Sixten analyzes the story a bit. Here’re some choice quotes:

“Unlike Miao Diary, which is mostly styled after fluff anime, Night Switch borrows plot points from more serious and dramatic shows such as Nanoha and Code Geass.” (emphasis mine)

That’s right. He said it. Well, I can only hope for one thing: that he’s only seen two episodes of Code Geass. Any more than that, and he’s just laughing his ass off at me here. Code Geass? Serious? It’s like he’s calling Night Switch a slapstick routine. (Speaking of which, Suzaku slapped Lelouch’s stick in Episode 24 of R2. That was hot.)

“As LoliKitsune pointed out, Night Switch is better than Miao Diary – it’s not a self-insert, wish-fulfillment, mo√© vehicle like that story featuring Jasmine.”

Here he uses a masterful trolling technique known to inspire Troll’s Remorse in lesser trolls. He turns my own cruelty against me in an attempt to make me regret my callous remarks. Thankfully I’m not susceptible, and I stand by my claims that Miao Diary is nothing more than a more modern Megatokyo (read: horse excrement). But still, it’s the thought that counts, as they say. Sixten really tried to drive it into me here.

“It’s as well-written as Jason’s scripts for Heart’s Content”

A nail in the metaphorical coffin, here he compares the quality of my product to the quality of Jason’s. I’ve read AoMM on and off for three years now (on when I wasn’t banned, off when I was) and I have never thought anything special of Jason’s command of the English language. Now, you might say I’m not one to talk. I’m a high school graduate. My writing is far from what I would call “good.” I don’t grammar well. My active vocabulary is often inadequate. But you don’t need to be a good writer to tell a bad one, and I can tell Jason is bad. Horrendously so.

Actually, if my writing is at the level of his, it might be time for me to pull my Megatokyo move.

/me strips, then reaches for lighter fluid and matches

“f Miao Diary is a strawberry marshmallow, Night Switch is a meal of rice, meat, and vegetables. Read it today for a balanced diet.”

What
the
fuck
is
a
strawberry marshmallow?!

Sigh.

Sixten is a formidable opponent. He even made a cover for Night Switch, pictured below. And of course, it lacks Joe. Poor Joe. Never gets any love. I think that’s why he turned to Jesus.

(That’s right, bitch, I hotlinked that.)

Majime na Lolikit
Sixten, you rock. <3

It’s at times like these that I wish my relationship with Jason were slightly less … violent. I’d like to talk to him about this, go over it with him, smooth things out… But ah well.

Once I got over the immediate reaction, I enjoyed Miao Diary quite a bit.

But I got to thinking—the Miao in Miao Diary is hardly the Miao I know. The Miao I know may be as flat, but he’s a dude, and doesn’t have ears or a tail. No 10% here. I also got to thinking—I’ve been writing about Miao since February. Sixten can’t touch this.

Night Switch

In February, I started writing a story—in small pieces—called “Night Switch.” It focuses on three “protagonists,” Jason, Joe, and Marin, and is about their interactions with each other and the country that they live in (2012 America).

Why Night Switch is better than Miao Diary

- it is not self-insert
- it is not wish fulfillment
- there is no gender-swapping
- it features more than two anibloggers/aniblog readers

• JTFish as Pedantic Dachshund
• Pablo-kun as Pablo
• scottfry3 as Scott F
• meganeshounen as Meg-Sho
• Jeff Lawson as Jeff
• mike as Physics Mike
• jpmeyer as JP
• DS as Dan S
• Hinano as Maria
• Marmot as the former director
• Jason Miao as Jason Meow
• and more to look forward to!

- Night Switch has more plot
- Night Switch has political satire
- Night Switch has a magical girl
- Night Switch has demons
- Night Switch has much hatred for Apple
- Night Switch has no moe

Why you should read Night Switch

Animebloggers, anime blog readers, you are some of the few people on this planet who will understand even 40% of Night Switch’s shitty inside joke-ridden content. If you don’t enjoy it, no one will!

Why Miao Diary should die

There are too many reasons to count, let alone list.
For now, accept that it’s simply a disgrace to everything innocent and pure in the aniblogosphere. Also, I hate Rule 14. CJ can attest to this. Can’t you, whore?

Want to be in Night Switch

If you’d like a character based on you in Night Switch, comment letting me know. I’ll make it happen. You might be a colleague of one of the main characters, or a cute mascot, or a turd. But you’ll feature if you ask kindly.

Read Night Switch

Whether it’s for the lulz, for great justice, or the result of a spinal reflex is up to you. DO IT.

When I first told Shirukii that I’d be reviving notdotq by no date later than April 1st, he reacted with “that’ll be awesome, even if it’s an obvious April Fool’s joke” or something like that. I’m paraphrasing. Anyway, after Shirukii said that, I knew it was to be—I would reopen notdotq before April Fool’s, and then I would close it on April Fool’s. And it would be lulz.

Unfortunately, things did not go just as planned. For one thing, I was up late watching KimiKiss and putting the finishing touches on my Dreams of the Quill April Fool’s.

While wandering around the stark-save-for-Astley landscape of Youtube and signing up to be a Virgle Pioneer I remembered that I had yet to do anything lulz on this site. I put up a quick and sloppy announcement of my intentions to leave. It was fail (like, as Owen and tj han might argue, everything I do) and kinda of disappointing, even to me. My post had no impact, especially thanks to its stepping stone—the drama with Owen—being removed from under it just on time for the occasion (and for the occasion, too, but how convoluted am I supposed to make my sentences?). Upon waking up, I knew I had to up the ante somehow. So I made a solemn declaration of my undying love for Haruhi.

Only to remember, a couple hours later, that shit, that was my April Fool’s last year!

So yeah, talk about fail. I really outdid myself this time.

At the very least, though, I can pride myself in my April Fool’s on DotQ—a fake installment of my current story; an installment, I might add, that featured the character based off Jason Miao being v&.