s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

After several lovely clear crisp autumn days, it’s turned southerly again, though fortunately it’s mostly wind. For Readers Elsewhere who may not know, New Zealand has all of two native deciduous trees — which in combination with the return of the rains means that the colors of autumn in NZ are actually *green*. In the central and southern South Island, they do get the “Fall Colors” in the shelter belts of exotic poplar and the like, but up here there’s not a lot of change apart from the weather.

The weather has its own trickle-down effect, though: we got the first of what I assume will be this season’s parade of vagrant spiders in the living room (I think the kitten ate it), and Azami caught four mice in a single afternoon, probably from the old trailer the hay bales got moved into.

We haven’t gotten any more cria yet, but the one we’ve got is doing all the things you’d expect a young critter to do: scamper around, put everything into his mouth, and pester his elders. Here I can take a moment to explain that male alpacas (camelids in general) sort out their pecking order using assorted physical challenges, including chest-butting, neck wrestling, and nipping each other’s ankles. Young animals, of course, start practicing these games pretty early, usually on their age-mates, if they have them. The closest thing to age-mates the cria’s got at the moment are the two wethers, but they’re essentially teenagers at this point: both too young and too old to appreciate a baby. So you must savor the mental image of the leggy little ball of fluff valiantly butting and neck wrestling with his llama uncle Jim. Jim’s knees, rather. Jim is a very tolerant llama, is Jim.

Meanwhile, we’re waiting for the rest of the cria, waiting for the underfloor insulation we ordered, waiting for the kit shed to arrive, and trying to find time to plant the rest of the fruit trees.

Here’s some cents from me.

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi — Going on just the title and the cover art, I think I was expecting this to be some dumb cutesy shoujo thing, with, I dunno, schoolgirls with magic handbags or something. Actually, it’s a taking-the-piss series — each ep, the protagonists get dropped into a new parallel of their home neighborhood (a run-down old shopping arcade in, I think, Osaka). Each one has a different genre theme, so the first one was Abenobashi in a generic fantasy computer game, the second one was Abenobashi in an SF space station, and the third was kung fu, etc. It’s one of those shows that’s full of rip-offs and parodies of other shows and of genre conventions in general. (The question, of course, is how far can they take this before the “genres” they pick get too esoteric or thin to be properly spoofed.) If you haven’t seen a lot of anime, you may find it funny. If you *have* seen a lot of anime, you will HURT YOURSELF LAUGHING. Stephen totally blew a gasket.

Arjuna – I think the full title is “Earth Maiden Arjuna” & we’ve seen a few more eps now. This is a “Magical Girl show” in the same way that Ms. Mystic or early Vertigo era Swamp Thing were “Super Hero comics”. Which is to say it pretty much isn’t. Most magical girl shows don’t feature the in-depth philosophy behind organic farming practices, the global ramifications of a factory-style teaching curriculum, or the heroine battling evil by sychronizing with her own intestinal flora. It gets a little preachy at times, but that could be because, overeducated liberal wonks that we are, these aren’t new concepts for us. We like it, anyway (being the choir, as it were), and plan to watch more.