I’m always working on new ways to make the site interesting, so today I did a bunch of programming work on the site to make for a more functional and elegant user interface. I want this site to become as easily navigated as possible, so I’m always looking on new ways I can do things to speed things up and keep the navigation as fluid as possible. I will be working a fair bit on AJAX modifications over the next month or so to perfect the site’s functionality.

The main feature I added is a Most Popular Posts list at the bottom of each post list page including the home page, the categories and the archives. I’ve actually made many other changes over the last few days, but most of them are on my end so you probably wouldn’t notice the difference.

If you read the previous post you may have noticed the pictures link to larger versions. Wordpress has a hard-coded thumbnail system that frankly sucks pretty bad, so I made some changes that allowed me to make the thumbnails bigger so you could get a reasonably sized preview that linked to a larger image. I also changed the post lists to show the excerpt without an image and then load the first image from the content dynamically instead of using the more tag that’s built in to Wordpress. At first glance this may seem like a rather useless change to accomplish the same thing, but what this did was allow me to code the image  in the post lists to automatically link to the corresponding post, while in the post itself the image can link to something entirely different, like a larger version for example.

I also implemented a Lightbox system, so the images open in an easy to understand overlay box with the image’s quote, if available, and you can even navigate all the images in the post through next and previous buttons, like a photo gallery. I’m always doing what I can to make Nerd Culture better. If you’ve got any suggestions, complaints or bug reports feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Beyond The Clouds was an extraordinary anime, but not so much in the story as the artistry. I call it “a moving masterpiece” because the art in the movie is like a moving painting. People have said that of just about all forms of anime, but this one very much is a piece of moving art. Pictures alone don’t really do justice to the quality of the art, as much of it is in the movement and small changing details like the flashing of lightning or the distorted view created by heat vapors. Parts of this movie actually managed to feel warm despite the video medium being technically incapable of projecting physical things such as temperature.

This is a movie for people that enjoy the art behind an anime as much as the anime itself. The story, though interesting and unique is actually quite slow. Despite that, I kept wanting to watch it because the characters were just so interesting and human feeling. The personalities were far more believable than most animated films I have seen in the past.

The movie takes place in an alternate timeline version of Japan several decades after an event refered to as The Separation has occured. The Seperation split Japan into two halves leaving the southern part occupied by the United States and the northern part occupied by something called the Union. Around the same time as The Seperation a scientist named Ekusun Tsukinoe began the construction of a strange tower for the Union in Ezo, a city we would know as Hokkaido. The tower was so massive that, on a clear day, it could be seen all the way from Tokyo

An underground group called the Uilta Liberation Front was formed in the South with the goal of reunifying Japan. Secretly supported by some Alliance government officials, it engages in terrorist activities on Union territory. At the time of the movie this organization is attempting to bomb the tower. This all sounds like an interesting plot–however; the main characters are more spectators in the whole event than anything really.

The story begins in Aomori on the northern end of southern Japan and follows the story of three friends. The characters are two boys; Hiroki Fujisawa and Takuya Shirakawa who both have exceptional abilities in physics and engineering, and the one girl; Sayuri Sawatari, a classmate who becomes friends with the boys.

Hiroki and Takuya have been working together to build an airplane out of a crashed drone plane they had found. They keep it hidden in a warehouse where they work on it regularly with parts they have scrounged from where they work at the Emishi Manufacturing factory. Sayuri mysteriously disappears during the summer while Hiroki and Takuya’s work on the plane fades.

The story then jumps 3 years ahead where Hiroki has become a physics engineer working for the Union, but secretly a member of the Uilta Liberation Front, while Takuya has basically sat around in Tokyo moping about Sayuri’s disappearance. Takuya eventually gets involved when he discovers that Sayuri has basically been asleep at a hospital because of alternate realities being fed into her mind in the form of dreams. If she were to awaken the world could basically come to an end.

I highly recommend this movie, despite the somewhat slow pace, if only for the extraordinary art. It really is something to see, it’s so beautifully done.

Popularity: 4% [?]

It’s rumored that the extra video in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is a trailer of the next Kingdom Hearts game, Birth By Sleep for the PSP. This rumor actually has some strong backing based on the various details revealed at the Tokyo Game Show.

Plot Synopsis quoted from Wikipedia:

Birth by Sleep focuses on the story of Keyblade masters before Sora from the original Kingdom Hearts game and is a prequel, taking place ten years before the original Kingdom Hearts. Nomura has stated that though there are three scenarios, there is not one singularly important scenario or character, but that the main theme is Ven’s identity. It is also believed to be connected to the unlockable trailers at the end of Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. The story revolves around three Keyblade apprentices in search of a missing Keyblade master, Master Xehanort, and his apprentice. Their disappearance foreshadows a great disaster. The game will take place entirely in Disney-themed worlds, both new and old, and will reflect the time difference between this game and the previous Kingdom Hearts games.

The basic translation of the video is;

“The sealed tale of the truth.”
“There is no such thing as coincidence in fate.”
“All the fates have been set.”
“After a long time, each fate…”
“Will await the awakening of a new tale.”

So what do you think of the concept for the next Kingdom Hearts game? Yay? Nay? I think it could be good, though it seems quite a bit darker than the other games so far. It apparently takes place entirely in Disney Worlds, so maybe I’m wrong; but the trailer didn’t really give me much of a Kingdom Hearts feel aside from the heart moon. Mind you, the second Kingdom Hearts was a little darker and realistic than the first and I preferred it, perhaps I might like a darker atmosphere in it. Maybe it could mean more screen time for the good old Pumpkin King.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Translation:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator

Seleria over at Scrumptious wrote a post about a hilarious shirt on Threadless that I really wish there was a Japanese version of–pic very related.

What kind of Nerd Culture related things would you like to see on a T-Shirt?

Popularity: 7% [?]

So, I started watching Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai–I got through the first five episodes before figuring out that there was another season that came before this. Oops. Now I’ll have to go back and watch the previous season. It started out all light-hearted and then suddenly everyone was dead. I was a little confused when I looked it up a little further online to find stuff to write about on here and saw all these screenshots from what was apparently the real first five episodes and I didn’t recognize any of it. Why must animes have different names for different seasons? It’s confusing that way. >.> (more…)

Popularity: 14% [?]