Silly question but when did "exhale" become a noun? I've been seeing it everywhere in fan fic lately, everywhere an "exhale," not one fic with an "exhalation"--or a "he exhaled." I figured it was a fan fic thing.

Then I saw an "exhale" in the poem "Forgotten Portraits," on my son's AP test study list.

The dictionaries are pretty much still telling me "exhale" is a verb.

This is, of course, all my language snobbery and utterly irrelevant, but when did this happen? What memo did I miss?

Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue Lycoris Recoil – Friends are the thieves of time –, Episode 1

Wednesday, Crunchyroll streamed Episode 1 of the limited (six episode) series Lycoris Recoil – Friends are thieves of time –. The studio calls these “short movies,” but this first episode was only two minutes long – so actually vignettes or shorts, not movies. Still, I thirst for Lycoris Recoil, and even two more minutes is a huge treat. The short made me smile. When the notes of the ED song ramped up, I got deeply nostalgic for my favorite anime series of 2022.

So today, at the end of the anime week, I started a rewatch of Lycoris Recoil. I watched the first four episodes of the 13 episode season. I’ll make time during the week to watch the remaining episodes. I love this show!

Also this weekend, CDJapan sent me some targeted merchandise recommendations, including a Lycoris Recoil Chisato and Takina Figurine Set. I checked, and Crunchyroll offers the Same Figurine for $90 more (which included a $12 member discount). Even allowing $50 for shipping from Japan, the CDJapan item is a better deal – and arrives six months sooner. (I’m hoping in time for Angel’s Month.) Even though the sculpture by Alter isn’t as faithful to the original art (as, say, Good Smile would have done), I went ahead and placed an order. I still don’t know where I’m going to put new figurines. But having Chisato and Takina in my collection would be a delight.

Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue Lycoris Recoil 1/8 Scale Figurine by Alter

Events on the homefront kept me from attending Corflu last year and even attending online this year, but hope springs eternal. Next year's site is in Santa Rosa, on the northern edge of the greater San Francisco area, meaning an overnight trip on Amtrak's Coast Starlight can get me most of the way there.

Amtrak even has a bus connection to Santa Rosa, but it means getting off the train in Martinez a little before 8am and then waiting two and a half hours for the bus. Surely there are local transit options that can do better!

That was sarcasm. I grew up in the Bay Area and know that transit there is a fragmented nightmare. There are somewhere around 30 different transit agencies (the number varies depending on where exactly you draw the line around "Bay Area") and minimal cooperation between them. I am moderately shocked that most of them have managed to agree on a common fare card.

After poking around various agency sites, this looks like a possible option:

1. Amtrak to Emeryville
2. AC Transit up to the transit center at the El Cerrito del Norte BART station (a couple of options for exact route, depending on how far I feel like walking)
3. Golden Gate Transit route 580 over to San Rafael
4. SMART train to Santa Rosa Downtown station, which is within walking distance of the hotel

It feels odd that I can't work BART into this, but the only Amtrak station with a direct transfer to BART is Richmond, which the Coast Starlight doesn't stop at.

Out of 7 shows I was interested in checking out, 3 aren't licensed for streaming in the US. The buzz about Your Forma has been negative enough that I've lost interest in it, but I'd still like to have a look at Miru or The Mononoke Lecture Logs of Chuzenji-sensei if I get the chance.

As for the others, plus one where the reactions on my favorite anime Discord server convinced me to give it a chance:

Apocalypse Hotel: After episode 1, I was amused, because the punchline was easy to guess but the exact form it took was not. After episode 2, I was clearing a spot for it on my Hugo ballot next year. It's whimsical, melancholy, philosophical, absurd, and blessed with some excellent character animation in episode 2. If you thought the premise sounded even remotely interesting, you should absolutely try it.

Lazarus: Sure looks great, but the writing ranges from just plain dumb to complete nonsense. Also it turns out I still hate dubs.

Sword of the Demon Hunter: Sets its protagonist up with an origin story which is dark and edgy on paper, but avoids the gratuitous excesses that would normally go with it. Only the one person that needs to be horribly killed for plot reasons gets horribly killed, and it goes out its way to show its human characters having humanity, allowing the demons to look properly demonic in comparison. Although this was advertised as a time travel story, there's no going back and forth, it's just that a couple of characters are going to have very long lifespans.

ZatsuTabi: Yup, it's just low-key travelogues about journeys to obscure bits of Japan. It turns out that this is my kind of thing right now, but I understand if it isn't yours.

Kowloon Generic Romance: Sets up a fascinating mystery, but it's going to be a competition between my interest in that and my annoyance at how much time the camera spends ogling our heroine (although episode 3 was much better) and how the shortcut to showing us that the apparent villain is evil is to make him an effeminate gay man (episode 3 got much worse on this).

I also managed to stop watching The Apothecary Diaries in the middle of its first episode of the season, so you don't have to keep reading my complaints about it.

Last Chance to Save the World by Beth Revis
[Goodreads | Storygraph]

4.5 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )

Today I learned that the Buttons on the Nikon Z8 Light Up. I was surprised. So tonight I turned off the lights in the room and tried it out. And, yes, the text/symbols on the buttons do light up when the camera is awake. It’s pretty cool.

(I checked. My D810 does not have buttons that light up, while the article author’s D850 has buttons that illuminate.)

I’m reminded of the Heart concert when I was using the Panasonic Lumix ZS99 for the first time, and I couldn’t find the Play (image) button in the dark. So I know the benefit of backlit buttons.

Moeka Shiotsuka of Hitsujibungaku Revolution Hall • Portland, Oregon April 16, 2025 Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS99 f/6.3 @ 53.8mm • 1/8s • ISO 1600

Back in January, I bought a ticket for the Hitsujibungaku concert at Revolution Hall last night. I did very little preparation in advance. Fortunately, my sudden concert activity in the past couple of years has set me up with a standard checklist. I modified the checklist I used for the Heart Concert last month.

( Concert Night Below This Cut )

Why it's hard to move a big convention at the last minute. Yes, partly inspired by that editorial at File 770, but also recent discussions about other cons elsewhere.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
[Goodreads | Storygraph]

4 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )

2017 Apple iMac Pro and 2025 Apple Studio Display iPhone 13 mini photo • 0.5x

While waiting for my computer assembly and delivery from China (and keeping fingers crossed), I had two Apple Studio Displays sitting idle. I’ve been having problems with my second monitor, a very nice seven-year-old LG 5K Thunderbolt 3 display, and that display occasionally flickered off and on at irregular intervals. Even with a different cable, the display wouldn’t consistently stay on. The flickers didn’t happen frequently, so the problem wasn’t critical.

I needed to make sure that I had bought the right equipment and things worked well together, so on Monday I decided to swap out the LG monitor and install one of the two Apple Studio Displays. I’ve never done a VESA mount configuration before.

( Monitor Issues Below This Cut )

Satoko Kusagakure and Konoha Koga Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi, Episode 1

While I’ve ended my weekly anime summaries, I’m still checking out most series at the beginning of each anime season. I’ve sampled each new show, and I’ve got a quick take on which shows I’m watching, may be watching, and dropping. I hope to do a wrapup at the end of the season.

( A Pandemonium of Shows Below This Cut )

It was important to try and do early procurement of tech products to avoid tariffs, as the surcharges could extend up to and over $1,000 on certain items. After the tech stuff, there were just a few minor items to look out for – nothing so critical that we couldn’t absorb the price increase – but I’d rather not spend extra money if I could avoid it.

Before the 90-day hold, the tariffs that were to apply to goods from Japan were 24%. I figured things would be bad at my local Japanese grocery, Uwajimaya. I’ve heard stories of shoppers buying up nori (dried seaweed). I suppose one of my failings is that I don’t cook a lot – and I cook Japanese dishes only rarely.

Still, we consume a lot of white rice and soy sauce in this household. Lucky for me, the rice is grown in California, and Kikkoman soy sauce is brewed in Wisconsin. Also, the best tofu and miso are made right here in Portland. Happy to be tariff-free on important staples.

Regardless, I get a little nervous when we run short on rice or soy sauce, so I tend to keep a fair amount of stock on hand. This week, Uwajimaya had a two-day coupon sale which I took advantage of to get $10 off 30 pounds of rice. Added to the 40 pounds of rice we already had, I think we’re set for a while.

And I recently opened the last 2-quart container of soy sauce, so I bought another gallon at Costco today. I feel better. I should figure out our run rate on soy sauce and rice.

The 90-day hold on tariffs should let my Coco Figurine slip through unscathed. Also the MISAMO Japan Dome Tour 2024 Haute Couture Blu-ray set is under the wire. Lucky!

I don’t generally buy Japanese manga, but I do buy Japanese art books, and those prices will go up. The prices at Kinokuniya are already very high. It might be that I just won’t buy any after July.

The only other specialty item I stocked up on isn’t from Japan – it’s from South Korea. Yesterday, I took advantage of a $15-off coupon at Soko Glam to get three more bottles of Korean sunscreen. Korean sunscreen is the best. (The tariff for South Korea is 25%.)

To Steal from Thieves by M.K. Lobb
[Goodreads | Storygraph]

3 / 5 stars

( More under the cut )

Feral Historian has a great (spoilery) video on Blake's 7 as a sadly realistic take on rebellion:

A bunch of old links have stacked up... but one new one by Chuck Wendig motivated me to do a link dump... so here we go...

• What It Feels Like, Right Now by Chuck Wendig (via Kottke.org)


• ooh.directory – a collection of 2,000+ blogs about every topic


• You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism (404media)(via MetaFilter)


• 10+ Things to Know about The Great Wave (Art Institute Chicago)


• 15 Ways to Improve Your Life, Japanese Style (via kottke.org)


• The Complete List of San-X Characters


• How to Turn Any macOS Folder Into an Image Converter (MacRumors)


• Reasons to Love Portland 2025 (Willamette Week)

Chapters: One-Shot
Fandom: Trigun
Rating: M
Relationships: William Conrad & Vash the Stampede
Characters: William Conrad, Vash the Stampede, Rem Saverem (mentioned)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon: Trigun Maximum (Manga), Grief/Mourning, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Night Terrors, Suicidal Thoughts, sharing a folding bed with a matricidal plantling, Conrad's life as a piece in the theater of the absurd

Summary:

Something awful and acidic like bile rises up in his throat and Conrad swallows it back as he looks down at the small, slight form next to him. This being beyond true human understanding. This ahriman, a spirit of wrath come to claim its due.

This murderer, his dear friend's blood all over his hands.

Additional Notes: Conrad and a young Vash on the World's Worst Road-trip. Read here @ AO3.

More Ohayocon/Sekaicon developments. I'd complain about how much I'm covering court cases these days, but looming ahead is the possibility of having to write about US tax laws before this one is over.

Tulip in My Neighborhood Nikon Z8 • NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S f/9.5 @ 105mm • 1/1500s • ISO 800

I’ve been spending way too much time thinking about fallout from the US self-imposed tariff chaos, driving me to pull 2025 planned purchases forward to this month. And when I figured I was done with that, I realized I should consider unplanned purchases also. Do I buy a new iPhone now? I decided to hold off, even though the prices of new iPhones could double in price. I would cross that bridge when I was forced to.

I did surprise myself by thinking about camera lenses. I had absolutely no plans to buy any (more) lenses this year – or maybe ever. I’m in very good shape. However, I realized that there is one lens that I wanted to have – but had decided not to buy in the interest of being frugal. The first week of April was a week of rapid decisions – and I did a sudden 180° turn and last Friday ordered a NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S lens from B&H Photo. I figured the price would never again be this low. The lens is made in Thailand, which had been assigned a 36% tariff rate. Assuming a very generous operating margin on the lens, this tariff would probably add about $200 to the cost of the lens. Could be more.

B&H Photo closes for the sabbath and didn’t ship my lens until Sunday via FedEx. The lens was scheduled to arrive here yesterday, but it got delayed one day and was delivered this afternoon. After I signed for the lens, I was no longer chained to the house, and I could go for my daily walk in the neighborhood. After a few days of rain, the sun had come out in the afternoon, and it was a good opportunity to test the lens.




This is actually the first time I’ve taken the Z8 out for a photo walk. I used the flip screen a lot – because flowers were low to the ground. The most amazing thing, though, is the near silent shutter – sooooo buttery smooth! So sweet!

My plan this year did include doing more macro photos (although that plan is likely scuttled for the year), and having the telephoto macro lens will be handy. As I wasn’t planning to buy a new lens, I was going to use my 105mm f/2.8 F-mount macro lens and the FTZ adapter. But Thom Hogan highly recommends the Z-mount version of the lens. It’s pretty nice, paired with the Z8.

Nikon Z8 + NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S lens

Visa (Citibank) is going to love me this month.