Business As Usual?? I’m not so sure….
I’ve always resisted the typical end-of-year backward glances; top 23 lists of crap, movies, music that I hate; reminiscences; resolutions; and other typical forms of dull tedious shite. I have at other times engaged in some form of egregious introspection, but not at this time of the year—at least not not willfully.
So expect none of that now, once again. Except for the top 11 anime list of course—that one is avoided at my peril, and as you shall see, yours as well..
Anyway, some sort introspection is somewhat implied whenever I write, I guess. And lately, there has been less of it, less of me1 and more of everything else accumulating until it overflows and overwhelms like a junk shop gone off the rails. Even the simple stuff like the variegated fates of Chelsea FC and Norwich City FC and Ballspiel Verein Borussia Dortmund so far this season has become too much.
Well that, or laziness.
I know my lines. I don’t bump into the furniture. I don’t have stage fright. So what other explanation can I offer?
I’m not so sure.
Meanwhile, fascism has returned to America. And the folks that voted for it are going to be fucked in the arse even more than they’ve already been. A sucker born every bloody minute and all that.
Also too many people have died in 2016….and since I’ve been cordially invited to write about death enough times in the past…I have no intention of turning my online sadness diary into some celebrity autopsy morgue and online funeral home bloog. So Carrie Fisher, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, and Prince….y’all rest in peace without me disturbing it.
As for 2017 and this bloog….I shall just have to proceed apace. No vows. No resolutions. More of the same then? Or something different? Who knows, eh?
There are football matches scheduled for 2017 whether I write about the results and their cultural ramifications or not. Chelsea has a tilt with Stoke City at The Bridge on January 4th. Norwich City has a must win match with Derby County at Carrow Road on January 2nd. Borussia Dortmund emerges from the Bundesliga winter break on January 21st against Werder Bremen at The Weserstadion.
Fascism will be officially established in America on January 20th.
Some famous musician or celebrity will die in 2017 and I’ll note it with alacrity and most likely not write about it.
And a few British Slang Terms2 will slip past my tongue, much to my wife’s chagrin.
Other than that….I suppose there are worse things to contemplate and then write about. The one thing worse than thinking about thinking is writing about thinking about thinking. But don’t expect to read any of that here.
Don’t expect anything, in particular at all. But if you must, then maybe the usual dull tedious shite will suffice.
Do I REALLY Have To Tell You What To Do???!!
You had better steel yourself, lay in a good supply of soda or beer and little chocolate donuts and so forth and get that computer of yours fired up and ready before 2016 Daytona 500 Winner Denny Hamlin roars up to your front door in his #11 FedEx Toyota and hops out ready to kick your ass like hell won’t have it.
In fact, right this very friggin’ second I hear him racing up the Super Slab ((US Hwy 151)) and burning rubber coming off at the first Mineral Point exit fixin’ to kick MY ass and hang my carcass from the flagpole in front of the schoolhouse where my wife and I live in Mineral Point WI USA! USA!! USA!!!
So without further ado and to avoid any argy-bargy with the Toughest Guy in NASCAR, here they are:
The Denny Hamlin Top 11 Anime Shows of 2016
- Joker Game
- Dagashi Kashi
- Kuma Miko
- Funo wo Amu
- Sakamoto Desu Ga?
- Sweetness & Lightning
- Yuri on Ice
- Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
- DAYS
- Keijo!!!!!!!!
- 91 Days
2016 was quite likely the best year for anime in recent memory. Every show on this top 11 list is great and it was hard to rank them. The first 8 shows could easily all be ranked #1. There are two shows from the current season that also could easily have made the list…Gi(a)rlish Number and 3-Gatsu no Lion…but I haven’t seen enough episodes of them yet. A lot of the best shows were grownup oriented, in good way, covering topics that have never been covered in anime before. For example:
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is a show about the Japanese story-telling art form called Rakugo. Rakugo artists were like the stand-up comedians of their day. The best ones were superstars of their day and age. The show is set in WW2 era Japan.
Funo wo Amu is about a young man who works for a publishing company. His interest in and fascination with and understanding of words lead to him being tapped for a job as an editor for the dictionary publishing arm of his company. I know this doesn’t sound like much, but the show is absolutely compelling.
Joker Game is about a Japanese Special Espionage task force set in pre-WW2 Japan. It’s the most fascinating show I’ve seen in sometime and it was especially odd to find myself rooting for our WW2 enemy in each episode. This one is a must watch. And the others also become must match if either Danny Hamlin, or myself, or both, come pounding on your door.
So get after it. NOW!! Watch all of them….in numerical order, or alphabetical order as you see fit….that is, if you wish to stay fit.
Business As Usual it will be then….I suppose….
Well, it’s now time for a(nother) beer. And a football match between Tootenham and Southampton. You can read the results of that on soccerway.com or in The Guardian long before you’ll read about it here.
But in closing this prolegomenon to any future blog post….here, selected at random, is some music from 2 of the musicians who died in 2016.
