efaardvark

Kinda like that for me too. Decent Halloween material though. It is a fairly original story and there's a little depth if you stick with it, though like I said it took a while for me to get into it.

Speaking of... Last year - or maybe the one before - I binged Shikabane Hime, aka Corpse Princess. This is one from back in the late "noughties". It started just as something to watch in between doorbell rings and it took a while to get into it because at the start it is just kind of a monster-of-the-week thing but I stuck with it and by the time I turned out the porch light and started eating the candy ( ) I was enough into it that I wound up watching both "Aka" and "Kuro" into the wee hours. Fortunately the next day was a weekend and I could sleep in.

Just did the first 13 episodes of Shiroi Suna no Aquatope (The Aquatope On White Sand). Cute characters, nice art, good story. Relaxing and enjoyable. The end of Gamagama seems like a good stopping point so I'm going to wait a bit before proceeding with the next set of episodes but I'm looking forward to resuming at the end of the season. I like Mushishi too. I've revisited it a few times. Natsume Yuujinchou is another good one that I think has the same sort of feel.

Same here, though unfortunately not for lack of desire.

Pretty sure that is Qiqi from Genshin Impact. (More info on Qiqi is here.)

Got a new “Lucy” pin this weekend, which I slotted in next to my ones for Dawn and some Mars landers/rovers in my new(ish) shadow box..

So I was just checking out the new HTC VIVE Flow. This looks like an awesome (if unreleased) VR headset. Specs-wise it isn't top-of-the-line, or even anything to brag about in terms of electronics, framerate, field of view. It does have "flat" optics with per-eye diopter settings, but it doesn't have IPD adjustment. What makes it awesome (IMHO anyway) is the 6dof inside-out tracking, 189g headset weight, and 1600 x1600 per eye resolution. Its power source is a separate battery pack, and the headset provides 5 minutes runtime so you can hot-swap packs and essentially run indefinitely. For better or worse. However, after having said this looks awesome I also have to say I'm not going to be buying one any time soon. (And unfortunately "not soon" means essentially never in the world of VR headsets since by the time they do get it right someone else will no doubt have something even better.) What kills it for me is essentially the price. $500 wouldn't necessarily be a show-stopper, but that price does not include anything but the headset. No controllers, power brick, or even a cable for the power brick. You even have to buy a new phone to use as a controller, and the phone has to be Android. No idea why they thought they could get away with this last restriction. I can see (maybe) why the Flow doesn't support Oculus's Touch controllers, but the HTC VIVE's controllers should at least be an option. Being able to possibly use your existing controller(s) would at least have made this an option for people with such. By the time I buy a controller and a power brick + cable we're probably talking over $1k, and combined with the decent-but-unexceptional specs it just isn't compelling enough to fork out that kind of money. A new headset that is compatible with the existing hardware ecology would be one thing. A $500 stand-alone headset that you actually need to spend 4 figures on to get working kit is quite another. All THAT said, I have to admit that this came very close. The low-weight and ultra portability combined with good-enough specs -could- have easily made the Flow a Quest-killer. The form-factor is extremely compelling. I've seen some headsets that are bigger (& heavier) than desktop computers I've built! The Flow correctly chooses to head in the opposite direction. I could see myself wearing something like this comfortably for several hours a day. (Er, is that a good thing? ) But unfortunately this just makes be really, really interested in seeing what the near future of VR has in store. I can hardly wait until someone comes out with something exactly like this but with OLED displays and including either its own phone/controller or supporting existing controllers. And a power brick. Hopefully the specs and price on the web page are just a test of interest and HTC will have a more compelling product when actually released.

As the good doctor used to say, "Stay Demented!"

I remember that from Dr. Demento's yearly Halloween special!