Reading: A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin
Slayers Revolution is like coming home for someone like me, who cut his otaku teeth on the original Slayers anime, more than ten years ago. (Astroboy, of course, was my very first. But its profound age puts it in a different class than the 1990s-era anime series that my otaku sense was weaned on.) I've always viewed Slayers NEXT as the pinnacle of the series, though I appreciated TRY's attempts to expand the milieu. It's too early for me to say whether Revolution will come to rival NEXT for Slayers supremacy, but after roughly ten years of Slayers withdrawal, it is certainly good to be back in the thick of things again.
I am, however, still awaiting the reappearance of my favorite character with bated breath. Fortunately, the preview for the fifth episode indicated that Xellos will be making an appearance next week. Otanoshimi ni!
*
With a vow that its purchase would herald the beginning of the end, as far as my keyboard collection goes, I bit the bullet and ordered a Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2 from beNippon a few weeks ago.
The diminuative, capacitive-switch keyboard didn't do much to impress me when I tried one out at Cleverly 2 in Akihabara. But to be fair, the display models looked to have been put through more than their fair share of abuse, and back then, I still considered the buckling spring keyboard to be the pinnacle of typing nirvana. Now, it's a toss-up between the Cherry brown tactiles in my Filco Majestouch, or the capacitive switches in the newly acquired HHKB2. The Filco, with its full layout, is still my mainstay keyboard of choice, while the HHKB2 is the one I'll turn to when it's time to type out my finals this 3L year. (Would it be too much to beseech the legal gods to allow would-be lawyers to type out their Bar essays this upcoming year? If not, then at least I know of one or two fountain pens that should serve me well, if I am forced to put pen to paper one last time.)
The third iteration of the Das Keyboard looked promising enough for me to pre-order it, with the belief that I would simply return it for the guaranteed refund if it failed to bunk the Filco from its pole position.
The keyboard utilizes Cherry blue tactile keyswitches, the very ones that I've heard many "clicky" keyboard enthusiasts on the geekhack.org forums describe as their favorite, besting even the renowned buckling spring switches in certain circles. My experience with the Das was mixed, however. The acoustic quality of the key clicks seemed hollow, perhaps due to the unique construction of the keyboard (I've heard reports that the previous iteration, the Das II, was far louder, and therefore, I assume, more acoustically satisfying). But worse than that, the clicks themselves seemed to throw off the natural typing tempo that I so easily maintain with the quieter cherry browns in the Filco. As a result, after a single day of experimentation, I packed up the Das and sent word back to the manufacturer for a refund.
I soon realized, however, that I would have to pay an exhorbitant amount of money to send the keyboard back, a shipping investment that the manufacturer would not reimburse. As a result, I decided to sell the practically new keyboard on eBay, assuming that I would probably be able to get a better rate of return from whatever the final bid ends up being--especially considering that, with the $99.99 preorders done with, the Das currently goes for a MSRP of $129. Better still, the winner of the auction will be the one who has to bite the shipping bullet.
All of this serves only to reinforce the consumer goods stereotype that I have come to recognize as being more of an ironclad rule than an overgeneralization: all other things being equal, a product made in Japan for the Japanese market will always be manufactured to a higher degree of quality and satisfaction than a nigh identical product made in the U.S. for the U.S. market.
The only exception to this rule--which may very well prove its veracity--follows below.
The diminuative, capacitive-switch keyboard didn't do much to impress me when I tried one out at Cleverly 2 in Akihabara. But to be fair, the display models looked to have been put through more than their fair share of abuse, and back then, I still considered the buckling spring keyboard to be the pinnacle of typing nirvana. Now, it's a toss-up between the Cherry brown tactiles in my Filco Majestouch, or the capacitive switches in the newly acquired HHKB2. The Filco, with its full layout, is still my mainstay keyboard of choice, while the HHKB2 is the one I'll turn to when it's time to type out my finals this 3L year. (Would it be too much to beseech the legal gods to allow would-be lawyers to type out their Bar essays this upcoming year? If not, then at least I know of one or two fountain pens that should serve me well, if I am forced to put pen to paper one last time.)
*
The third iteration of the Das Keyboard looked promising enough for me to pre-order it, with the belief that I would simply return it for the guaranteed refund if it failed to bunk the Filco from its pole position.
The keyboard utilizes Cherry blue tactile keyswitches, the very ones that I've heard many "clicky" keyboard enthusiasts on the geekhack.org forums describe as their favorite, besting even the renowned buckling spring switches in certain circles. My experience with the Das was mixed, however. The acoustic quality of the key clicks seemed hollow, perhaps due to the unique construction of the keyboard (I've heard reports that the previous iteration, the Das II, was far louder, and therefore, I assume, more acoustically satisfying). But worse than that, the clicks themselves seemed to throw off the natural typing tempo that I so easily maintain with the quieter cherry browns in the Filco. As a result, after a single day of experimentation, I packed up the Das and sent word back to the manufacturer for a refund.
I soon realized, however, that I would have to pay an exhorbitant amount of money to send the keyboard back, a shipping investment that the manufacturer would not reimburse. As a result, I decided to sell the practically new keyboard on eBay, assuming that I would probably be able to get a better rate of return from whatever the final bid ends up being--especially considering that, with the $99.99 preorders done with, the Das currently goes for a MSRP of $129. Better still, the winner of the auction will be the one who has to bite the shipping bullet.
All of this serves only to reinforce the consumer goods stereotype that I have come to recognize as being more of an ironclad rule than an overgeneralization: all other things being equal, a product made in Japan for the Japanese market will always be manufactured to a higher degree of quality and satisfaction than a nigh identical product made in the U.S. for the U.S. market.
The only exception to this rule--which may very well prove its veracity--follows below.
*
For years now, I've used a Microsoft Optical Trackball mouse as my pointing device of choice. It began in college, where desk space was at a premium, and once I switched to a trackball-type mouse, I couldn't go back to the more traditional style. However, I soon found that the thumb-reliant trackball setup exacerbated my carpel tunnel ailment, and I started a slow search for a worthy replacement.
I quickly discovered that the Kensington Expert Trackball mouse was widely regarded as the gold standard, as far as trackball-type mice go. Even on Japanese webisites, the finest--and most expensive--keyboards were always sold beside the Kensington.
Amazon provided a significant discount on the Kensington, though the wait for it to arrive via free super-saver shipping was excruciating. It does, however, live up to its expectations, and makes mousing tasks between the two screens I currently use noticably easier to boot.
I quickly discovered that the Kensington Expert Trackball mouse was widely regarded as the gold standard, as far as trackball-type mice go. Even on Japanese webisites, the finest--and most expensive--keyboards were always sold beside the Kensington.
Amazon provided a significant discount on the Kensington, though the wait for it to arrive via free super-saver shipping was excruciating. It does, however, live up to its expectations, and makes mousing tasks between the two screens I currently use noticably easier to boot.
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