Hire & Fire

Lately I'm not happy at work. It's not the work itself, it's everything surrounding it.
Our departement manager sucks, he annoys everyone with his ignorance and stupidity, and he has hired a girl for my team leader who's not qualified for the job. She's not a team player herself, so she knows nothing about how to lead a team and is doing an awful job at it.
Our company has problems and fired some people, among them some in our departement and in my team. And now another team mate has quit (not surprisingly, she didn't get along with our team leader either). Which leaves our team down from 5 to 2 - my team leader and me.
I work in a mail order company and for some reason there's a rather hostile attitude towards eCommerce (where I work). It results in bad cooperation and last week comparatively many people from our departement were fired, which makes no sense considering the development away from the catalogue towards the internet. It doesn't give one the feeling that this company fit for the future, and the mail order business in Germany is in a tough spot anyway, with two big players already down.

My mum keeps telling me that I should look for another job. But I wasn't sure. I like the work I'm doing and there's some benefits to working in this company, like a 37,5 hrs working week.
But if it's annoying me too much and making me unhappy, should I not leave?
I don't know where to go though. I'd be fine with getting out of eCommerce, I never wanted to work in this area anyway, it just kind of happened. But I like the flat I'm living in, I like the city, it's close to my hometown; I really don't want to move again. And since there are hardly any jobs for me in this city, the alternative would be commuting.
I guess I should start updating my LinkedIn profile...

And another thing I'm worrying about: what if the next place isn't any better? I thought this place was better than the last, and though I like the tasks better, the working environment got worse and worse. How can I know it's not the same at the next job?

I wonder whether I'll find a job that I'll like, even after years, a place where I can stay. Or will I have to change jobs every 2 or 3 years? I don't think I'd like to live that way. Read more on this article...

reviews: Brave 10, Kuroko no Basket

It's been a while, but here's more anime reviews.

Brave 10

Brave 10 is a reverse harem full of bishonen samurai/ninja. Yay?

Unfortunately it has the annoying helpless female lead, too. Isanami is the usual useless anime girl - you could substitute her with a dog and it wouldn't make much of a difference.
There's the big-breasted ninja woman with ridiculous clothing, too, but she's not as kick-ass as she could be.

The male characters are more interesting. There's a bunch of fighters of different kinds. You'll know some names, because some are based on historical people. This isn't an historical story though, it's more fantasy.
Saizo is an interesting main character, trying to find his way. Is he better off without a master, or will he feel better serving Yukimura Sanada?
The writer of the manga apparently does yaoi, too, and it shows in the outfits. I'm not complaining though. There's a little fan service and some shonen ai hints, but nothing really obvious. Well, except for Kamanosuke Yuri, the bat shit crazy guy with a blood-fetish who's falling for Saizo. A lot of people seem to be unsure about whether he's a woman or a man; I think it's obvious that he's male, but apparently his sometimes non-gender-typical behaviour confuses others. Yuri is one of the most entertaining parts.
Sanada totally reminds me of Shunsui Kyōraku from Bleach. Sasuke's really cute, being all shy and with his animal friends. Rokuro Unno, the uke-ish servant of Sanada - what's with that outfit?! I wish he'd have had more fighting scenes though. The others are interesting, too, Kakei Juzo and Nezu Jinpachi (and Ishida Matsunari), but they don't get enough character development.

Actually no character gets enough development. It's really frustrating: there's all these guys with so much promise, but you just don't get anywhere. The anime clearly suffers from having only 12 episodes. I'm really not sure what story would work with 12 episodes. This one hardly does; it's really a shame. Especially the last episode is a complete letdown.
Also, there's too much talk during the fights.

But since I found the setting and characters interesting, I started buying the mangas. Those are much more "ecchi" than the anime, the girls' nipples show all the time and not only that... But I'm really looking forward to the onsen trip and the drunk party on Jinpachi's ship - my favourite parts of the anime.

TV Tropes
Wikipedia

Kuroko no Baskuke

I started this one after seeing fan art on deviantART. I thought, ok, I'm not interested in basketball, but I loved Chihayafuru even though I never heard of the card game before.

I couldn't stop watching! Seriously, I was glued to the screen. The suspense in some episodes was so intense, it was very nearly physically exhausting just to watch it.

Kuroko is a strange main character. You hardly get any background on him and he's not the strong hero, that's Kagami. He always seems serious and is really innocent-looking (apart from when he gets down to business in a match). He's only really good at passing and otherwise weak, but he can still change a game - and it's not only his special skill. There's something else, but I can't place my finger on it. He seems as uke as one can get, but in a way he isn't (though judging from the fan art out there I might be the only one thinking that).
There's a whole bunch of other male staff, of course, but they're not as interesting as Kuroko. Since it's a shounen anime, there's not a lot of fan service for girls. There's also the big-tits-girl versus small-tits-girl - seriously, I'll never understand what's up with that.

As far as basketball goes, it's probably not realistic; even though I don't know anything about sports, I can see that. But come on, who expects an anime about basketball to be realistic?
The extremes (the next player being amazing, the next even more amazing, the one after that...) are a bit annoying, but Kuroko no Basket is very entertaining and hard to get away from.

TV Tropes
Wikipedia

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Remember Koom Valley!

So, at the moment I'm re-reading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. And just somewhere in there, easy to overlook, I found this one little annotation.
It's about history and about the battle of Koom Valley. The Discworld Wiki says about that battle:

“Remember Koom Valley!” Hundreds of years ago, the trolls and the dwarfs met in a battle at Koom Valley. It was a remarkable battle in that each side ambushed the other and, of course, in being the historical event symbolizing the enmity between trolls and dwarfs. Nowadays, dwarfs celebrate the Battle of Koom Valley Day, on the same day that trolls celebrate Troll New Year. Sometimes, in a city where both dwarfs and trolls live (e.g. Ankh-Morpork), the two groups are careful enough to plan their celebratory marches so that they are coincidentally on the same street (see Men at Arms).

And here's the annotation (Thief of Time, p. 215):

Every society needs a cry like that, but only in a very few do they come out with the complete, unvarnished version, which is 'Remember-the-Atrocity-Committed-Against-Us-Last-Time-That-Will-Excuse-the-Atrocity-That-We're-About-to-Commit-Today! And So On! Hurrah!'

By the way, the book was released in 2001. I couldn't find any exact date, but Terry Pratchett must have been done writing before September of that year. Read more on this article...

Bromance! - Womance?

I've been re-watching Saiunkoku Monogatari and one thing I really like is the friendship between Ran Shuuei and Li Kouyuu. Apparently a lot of fanfiction revolves around those two, too - slash fanfiction that is. And once again I disagree with it. I do like yaoi, but as I have mentioned before, sometimes the friendship is just too precious. A sexual relationship just doesn't fit them, in my opinion.
There are many relationships in manga and anime like that, for example Kyōraku and Ukitake of Bleach and Kotetsu and Barnaby of Tiger & Dragon. Nowadays this is called "bromance", I guess.

And there's quite a few epic friendships like these, not only in anime. There's Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. There's all the buddy movies, Bud Spencer with Terence Hill, Leathal Weapon, Rush Hour. There's Miami Vice and Dr. House and Wilson. Of course there's Merry and Pippin in Lord of the Rings, Silk and Barak in the Belgariad, there's Captain Kirk and Spock and Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.
Epic bromance is everywhere to be found!

And what about women?
According to wikipedia, there's "Womance". Which, honestly, sounds like a weak copy of the male version...
And it's hardly visible. There's Thelma & Louise, of course. But otherwise? Hardly anything deserving the description "epic". There's Buffy and Willow, but they had Xander, so does it count? As for mangas/animes, there's Nana.

I think there's a lack of epic friendships between women.
Or is it only me? Are they just of a different nature? Read more on this article...

Comfort Zone

I read the wikipedia article about Comfort Food recently - I have no idea how I stumbled upon it. I wanted to add German comfort food, but haven't gotten round to it.
Then yesterday I had a really bad day; stress, TBE vaccination, the hot weather, and whatever else, taking it's toll and I did something incredibly stupid at work. I kept thinking about how embarrassing it was and was shocked at how and why I had such a mental black-out. But later that evening, after watching some anime and listening to some music, I felt much better.
So I realized there's not only Comfort Food, there's other "Comfort stuff", too.

Comfort Food
I grew up with my Canadian relations, so Mac & Cheese (or Kraft Dinner, how's it called in Canada) is definitely comfort food for me. (Unless I eat too much of it.) Then there's also Lasagne - made by my mum, of course.
Chicken Soup is a favourite, too (this one seems to be nearly international), especially chicken noodle soup.
Something that always reminds me of my childhood is bread and gravy, it's basically just dipping good bread (without butter) into good gravy. It's something you only get in a family home, with left-over gravy.

Now over to the sweet stuff. Hot chocolate of course! Ice cream in summer.
Then there's "Pudding" which in German means something else than what you'd probably think of in English. It's a creamy dessert. Hot chocolate pudding - that one's probably my number one sweet comfort food. Followed by Grießbrei (a sweet semolina pudding) and sweet rice pudding - hot or cold.

I can't cook, so either these foods I only get at home, or they're convenient food. Mac & Cheese only counts as the convenience food by Kraft.

Comfort Movies, TV and books
The publishing company who publishes Bollywood movies in Germany has "Bollywood macht glücklich" (Bollywood makes you happy) as a slogan. And it is true - if you have enough time to spare for a traditional Bollywood movie, which usually last about 3 hours. The average Bollywood movie is a "masala movie, which means it has a bit of everything, and probably a happy ending. My favourites are probably Main Hoon Na and Paheli.
Then there's a couple of fantasy movies from my childhood, like Labyrinth and Willow, the one or other odd newer movie (like Penelope) and a few Ghibli movies, especially Howl's Moving Castle (you can read about the movie and the book in my recent blog post, too).

A few years back, when I was suffering from depression, one of the only things that made me laugh was Ranma 1/2. I got to the TV everyday in time to watch it, and dearly missed it on the weekend. It was my first anime. but nowadays other series took its place: I'm currently re-watching and enjoying Saiunkoku Monogatari. Ah, who wouldn't love some Seiran in their life?
I've also been thinking about watching Star Trek - The Next Generation. I only have one DVD box, so I've been thinking about buying the complete series. Star Trek TNG is a special TV series, one in a million. Not only is it Star Trek and has great actors like Patrick Stewart. I really appreciate the philosophy behind it (and agree with much of it) and the wisdom it countain; and what makes it a comfort TV series is the underlying positive attitude.


Then there's books. The perfect way to flee from reality.
Lord of the Rings: long enough to get you through some serious troubled times. That one helped me a lot when I was suffering from depression and living far from my home and family. Sometimes I think it saved my life. I got through the day because then I could go home and read.
Howl's Moving Castle is another one of these books. And books by Terry Pratchett; not all, but many.

Comfort Music
Queen of course. Queen has been with me all my life - it's hard to describe what their music means to me. When I hear Freddie's voice, I feel my shoulders relax and it all doesn't seem half that bad. It reminds me of my childhood, safe, carefree times.
Then there's Bruce Springsteen - he's also connceted to happy childhood memories. But also some of his newer songs have that uprising "Yes, we can" spirit.
Also, maybe Marillion.

Read more on this article...

How to find friends - not

I got anothe rone of these newsletters: "Finding Friends".

So what tipps do they give?
- Visit events that make you talk to other people, e.g. flea markets.
- Talk with random people on the street, e.g. don't bring a watch and ask people what time it is.
- Do smalltalk. Like talking about the weather.
- Don't be hard to approach, look people in the eye.
- Invite acquaintences to something.

I wonder do these people ever read what they wrote? It's so obviously written by someone who never had to try to find friends. Flea markets? Seriously? And how many have ever made a best friend by asking what time it is?
People complain that nowadays you can make friends online by clicking on a button - and they claim they're not really friends. Yeah, but the person you talked with on a flea market counts as a friend? Why do people think that the medium plays such a big role (and face-to-face is superior per se) and not the content or the value?

Why don't they understand that "friend-less" people are not all so shy that they can't talk to anyone?
I've been in many yoga courses - I never made a friend there. I've met people at concerts (some even repeatedly) and chatted with them - none of them are my friends. Just recently I talked with an elderly woman on a packed train about where she lives and where I live and about the train service - but we'll never be friends.

I'm afraid that the further you stray away from the mainstream, the harder it is to find like-minded people.
But the mainstream won't understand that. Read more on this article...

Howl's Moving Castle

I just spend the whole day reading the book. Again. I just love this book, it's fantastic!

It's a shame that a lot of people don't know that there's actually a book. They only know the anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki.
I was like that, too, but then I learned that there was a book written by Diana Wynne Jones, I read it and I loved it. I read the two sequels, too. And the Chronicles of Chrestomanci by the same author (another great set of books). There's still many books by her that I haven't read, and I'm looking forward to reading them all.
In March 2011 Diana Wynne Jones sadly passed away.

I love the disctinct British touch about Howl's Moving Castle (like with Pratchett and Rowling). It's witty and funny. Things don't turn out like you'd expect them to, so it's not your usual fantasy story.
There's romance. This part is a bit cliché, with them seeming to dislike each other at first. But I enjoyed their fights too much.
The best part is the characters. Especially Howl - he's impossible in so many ways, but you can't not like him. The main characters have their bad habits, weak points and flaws. Actually a lot of things in the story happen because of them making mistakes. And even Sophie's sister and stepmother have distinct personalities, even though they're not mentioned that much.

I can't really put into words how awesome this book is. I think it's one of the best I ever read (and I read quite a few).

By the way, I love the movie, too.
A lot of people always complain about the movie being so different from the books. But it has to be! It's a completely different medium.
The movie has a very Miyazaki touch to it. You have the beautiful, detailed backgrounds, the steampunk-like fantasy setting, the wonderful soundtrack. And the pacifist morale. Miyazaki added a war that was only imminent in the book. The plot is simplified and altered quite a bit, so that even if you know the movie, you'll still be surprised by the book.
Howl's all the charming, handsome, vain young man he's supposed to be, and really like his voice. I love the scene where he meets Sophie - I like it better than in the book, actually. The castle is great, too, but it doesn't look too much like you think a castle would.
Except for the war, the movie is very much "chibi-fied", made more fitting for children. Calcifer, the fire demon, is more cute than frightening (but I love this Calcifer!). Michael, Howl's assistant, is a lot younger, and as such of course doesn't get engaged. Howl's womanizer character isn't mentioned. Then there's the dog and the scarecrow. And the biggest difference is probably the other wizards, especially Witch of the Waste, who is not the beautiful, powerful, cunning heartless person she's in the book, but rather a fat, old lady - and her fate is much better, too. This is one thing that bugs me a bit: everyone was afraid of her, but the anime movie kind of makes you wonder why. The whole end of the plot seemed kind of strange.
But Howl's Moving Caslte still one of my favourite Miyazaki movies.

Read more on this article...