Category: Personal

Categories
Meta Personal

Happy New Year!

Hey all, I hope everyone had a satisfying end to their year and are at least trying to be ready for whatever unpredictable nonsense that 2024 is likely to throw their way.

Normally I’d want to take after Anime News Network and most of the other blogs that I follow and put together some sort of “year in review,” but the honest truth is that, after about April/May I didn’t watch very much anime at all. I had all these notions that, while on maternity leave I’d have nothing but time to sit in front of a TV with my husband and baby and binge watch shows, but with the lack of normalized sleep, each day flowed into the next and all I had the mental energy for was to keep a constant stream of Seinfeld episodes running in the background. I have since become somewhat insufferable in my use of Seinfeld references in everyday life, but I was always a little insufferable anyway.

Continue reading “Happy New Year!”
Categories
Personal

There and Back Again – A Harrowing Year and a Break From Anime

Content Warning: Discussion of pregnancy complications and other medical situations.

Well, it’s sure been a year, hasn’t it? Calling it a full year isn’t entirely accurate in that I think my last actual post here aside from some convention information was back in October 2022, but it’s close enough I suppose. Like most of the “breaks” I end up taking from this blog, this one was as unintentional as any other, but as I mentioned back then a large part of my inability to focus this time around was due to undergoing fertility treatment – the medication regimen itself and the fact that caffeine (my way of self-medicating my ADHD) became a big no-no put a real damper on things.

Continue reading “There and Back Again – A Harrowing Year and a Break From Anime”
Categories
Personal

Social Media Updates (AKA “Where to Find Me”)

Hi all, once again it’s been a long while. I briefly mentioned this in my previous update (following Anime Detour), but I kind of fell off the face of the Earth due to being pregnant and dealing with some medical issues related to that. I’ll probably write more about that harrowing experience in a separate post but I’m at least happy to say that at this point all is well and our baby is here. Of course, over the past several months the social media landscape has gotten kind of interesting following the degradation of Twitter/X and the creation or proliferation of several social media services hoping to fill that void. I must say, for all its issues I’ve always enjoyed Twitter and I’m sad to see it fall apart due to the incompetence of its ownership, but as someone who grew up with the rise of the Internet, this isn’t the first implosion I’ve watched happen in real time and it definitely won’t be the last.

Continue reading “Social Media Updates (AKA “Where to Find Me”)”
Categories
News Personal Site News

Empathy with Zombies

*Brushes off dirt and picks off cobwebs*

This season at the anime club I attend we’re watching both Zombie Land Saga and Shiki, two series in which (and sorry for for this very basic spoiler of both shows) the existence of the undead is integral to the plot of the story. I can’t help but feel a little bit of empathy for these reanimated characters, because for the past couple of months I’ve also kind of felt like I’ve been shuffling around with creaking bones and and a jumbled-up mind.

Continue reading “Empathy with Zombies”
Categories
Personal

Brief Update… Part 2

Hi everyone, I hope the last couple of weeks have been pleasant for you. I feel as though I blinked once and a bunch of time had passed since I last posted. I figured another update was in order.

Continue reading “Brief Update… Part 2”
Categories
Personal

Brief Update

Good morning, all (or good afternoon or evening, depending on where and when you’re catching up with anime blogs). I just wanted to provide a brief update on reviews and articles related to this current (Spring 2022) season.

It’s always my goal to (eventually) get around to every non-sequel series airing in a season, and that hasn’t changed. I realize I’m not the quickest (and in fact am probably the slowest) at posting these impressions, and my process and writing isn’t especially unique, but I find it valuable to give everything a fair shot as I’m able to no matter how long the journey happens to take. That said, there are some extra obstacles to timeliness that have been causing me a lot of problems over the past month or so in particular, and especially the past couple of weeks, so I thought I should post something just to air it all out.

Continue reading “Brief Update”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Personal Reviews

S1E1 Week-in-Review – April 17th, 2022

Hi everyone, welcome to another long-overdue week(+)-in-review. It’s been a while since I’ve had anything to include in one of these round-up. Last weekend when I’d normally be doing more writing, I ended up spending large chunks of the day out-and-about at the Minnesota Yarn Shop Hop – an annual event where several Twin Cities local yarn stores participate and provide free patterns, special hand-dyed yarns, and door prizes, among other things. Those of you who follow me elsewhere probably know that I indulge in the fiber arts from time-to-time, so this was something fun to do in relation to that other major hobby.

The event ended up being incredibly popular; I think after cancellations the last couple of years due to the pandemic, people were really hungry to get out of the house and participate in this in-person gathering of hobbyists (if Anime Detour was any indication, this trend is likely to continue on for quite a while). More than half of the stores we visited were already sold out of their special yarns. As a completionist who was hoping to buy all of the yarns/kits for the event patterns, this was a little bit disappointing. On the other hand, I’m hoping that this means the event was a success for all the participating brick-and-mortar stores. While I’m perfectly happy to order my craft supplies online (even from these very stores), there’s just no replacing the experience of visiting them in person and touching/squeezing all the yarn hanks (and also hanging out with friends and traveling to various metro area cities, of course).

Continue reading “S1E1 Week-in-Review – April 17th, 2022”
Categories
Conventions Personal

Shiny New Anime – Anime Detour 2022

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great Anime Detour this year. Below are panel materials for this year’s “Shiny New Anime” panel. There’s a presentation, a hand out, and also a folder of clips for those who can’t play the videos in the presentation and would like to see them.

Shiny New Anime PowerPoint Presentation
Shiny New Anime Hand Out
Shiny New Anime Clips

This panel (and my others) are a lot of work, so if you’d like to use some of these materials, please credit me (Jessi Silver).

Have a great day, and see you next year!

Categories
Conventions Personal

Anime for Grown-Ups – Anime Detour 2022

Hi all, below are my panel materials for “Anime for Grown-Ups.” They include a PowerPoint Presentation with notes and links, and a hand out.

Anime for Grown-Ups PowerPoint Presentation
Anime for Grown-Ups Hand out

This one contains some clips, and if you don’t have PowerPoint I’m not sure if the web version will open them, so I’ve put the clips in a folder here.

There are a lot of links and notes in this one, so I hope you’ll give it a look (since it’s mostly included for informational purposes and not as things to talk about in depth during the panel).

If you use the material for other purposes, please credit me (Jessi Silver).

Categories
Conventions Personal

Manga for Grown-Ups – Anime Detour 2022

Hi all. I hope those of you who attended “Manga for Grown-Ups” enjoyed the panel. Below are the panel materials (presentation with links and notes) as well as the hand out if you would like it.

Manga for Grown-Ups Presentation
Manga for Grown-Ups Hand Out

If you happen to use these materials in any way, please credit me (Jessi Silver).