Month: December 2011

The Speakeasy #024: The Last Word, Looking Back on 2011

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Drink #024: The Last Word,
Looking Back on 2011

Once again the end of the year means the jet setting billionaires Hisui and Narutaki attend their yearly collaboration to muse on what has occurred in the anime and manga industry during the course of 2011. This year finds them looking at the coast Monaco from Narutaki’s private yacht as they open up a bottle of Dom. Romane Conti 1997, dig into Wagyu steaks prepared by Koumei Nakamura, and reflect on some of the biggest events of 2011. As they digest their meal they talk about the quake, the closing of Borders, and the other events that shaped the year and reflect on how these events will reverberate on the year to come. Come, open up a bottle of your finest vintage, and reflect with them on your memories of 2011.

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And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

The Last Word

  • 3/4 oz gin
  • 3/4 oz lime juice
  • 3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
  • 3/4 oz maraschino liqueur

Preparation:

  1. Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.
  2. Shake well.
  3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Enter the Red Dragon

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As someone who played more table top role-playing games than maybe I should have in college I have a distinct soft spot in my heart for that genre of games. I have probably played more White Wolf, GURPS, and D&D than I care to admit. I still will revel in old plot lines I participated with friends like veterans trading war stories. We often mention to each other that a clever one of us would put together some of our better story lines and try to pitch them as a book. George R. R. Martin of current Game of Thrones fame did just what with a long running super hero game he ran that included several noted authors that became the Wild Cards series. There are currently 21 books in the series with more coming out next year with a possible movie on the way. Also the Record of Lodoss War franchise started as a series of replay transcripts that eventually became a larger multimedia franchise. In fact these replay novels are not uncommon in Japan and there is one such series on the horizon that looks amazing. Red Dragon has become one of the properties I am most looking forward to in 2012. Continue reading →

Give Yourself the Gift of Revolutionary Girl Utena

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Looking at the forums thread for the 100th episode of the ANNCast I learned a shocking fact. Apparently there are people in the anime fandom who have never seen Revolutionary Girl Utena. This is a sad state of affairs that must be rectified as soon as possible. With something as unusual as Utena it is clear that not everyone will enjoy the show. Its avant-garde nature, melodramatic style, and odd sexuality can easily turn people away from this show. But all those things make the show at least worth sampling to see if they appeal to you. It is just a show that feels so different that you have to see it just to experience what it brings to the table if you consider yourself any sort of seasoned anime fan. You don’t have to love it and you don’t even have to watch all of it. But is should have at least a passing familiarity with. When the series was out of print this claim was a harder sell but recently Nozomi has re-released the series with remastered audio and video. Plus on they have episodes streaming on their YouTube page. Now is the best time to sample the series legitimately as well as pick it up on disk in a resplendent re-release. But as great as the show is the extras included in the new box sets are just as enticing.

If Nozomi has proven their worth with anything, it is these Revolutionary Girl Utena box sets. Picking up the series with a major remaster of animation and sound is great, but more than anything else is the new life the booklets bring to the show. Many anime titles come with extras but few bring you such knowledge that is packed into these allowing you to walk away with an even better appreciation for Utena (I didn’t know it was possible to love it more).

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