Finally marching right back in...if only for a couple of reminders (and then some)

To paraphrase Mark Twain, "The rumours of my prolonged absence here have been exaggerated."

Dearest apologies for the long, long lull away from this nest--on account of what have been four and a half almost nonstop months of bringing my recently relaunched creative-venture wiki to life. (Originally set up at ByetHost last October; went through a trial run until later that November; went offline months later due to lack of available funds from my Patreon, commission line, or otherwise; and, beginning with a fragment backup from the very early stages at Byet, settled at its new home on Miraheze the following summer.)

And guess what's been taking up much of my precious time awake since late July? That's right, tauwtés: RFM 2.0, formally known as the Tovasala Dictionary, documenting a conlang formerly branded as Relformaide. At this writing, yours truly has imported 1,760+ dictionary entries and 1,300+ morpheme tables from a practically moribund, slower-than-laboratory-pitch Referata--as long as that Semantic MediaWiki host's sites still have a pulse, and I'm saying that as an admin apprentice of founder Yaron Koren. (Referata.com itself has been displaying an error message since October; good thing I backed up a couple of that home base's more interesting pages several months before then.) So much so, almost everything else of greater importance on the Constant Noble site (as my label is called) has landed on the so-called "Tasklist of Death". (Don't get this contributor started on G+'s closure for this...)

Now for an encouraging note: The Sandbox version of the Dictionary's {{Definition}} template is 85% fully usable, meaning that we'll overwrite the parent's code with the end result of so many months of hard work come December or January. On the downside, this looks like a job for the ReplaceText utility...

Furthermore, DynamicPageList3 (DPL3) is chugging along on my side of Miraheze, albeit with a few unresolved issues. (Such as, "Why are the page-count statistics still stuck at 500--even though I requested a max-result raise to 2,500?" (Pending a future bug fix, the Miraheze team has now switched this option to "allowUnlimitedResults = true".)

As for the Page Forms extension, some bits and pieces aren't working right, at least where I am. (After an upstream filing that didn't quite go anywhere, let's hope Phabricator is on the case when I bring up the matter.)

"Marching right back in" was just about right--because I prepared this writeup the day after Veterans. (On a related note, Mongolian-based cherège is the Tovasala word for "soldier"; discontinuous-past form chereglurèle stands for "veteran"; and in turn, Chereglurelaurddième is what transpired yesterday.)

And speaking of new homes...well, you'll find out as we sign off. But for now...

• First, and most importantly, after months of waiting: I am officially due for a vaccination in the next several days, just a matter of blocks away from where I live. (The only reason why I made this dispatch at any rate--or else who else would be there to remind my fellowship on that issue?) Meaning that once I finally get that shot--more like, two...I'll be away from any and all platforms (or what few I'm using nowadays, anyway) as I recuperate from the fever that comes along with it. Keep me in your memories if I never write (or live) again after this; will anyone else get the remaining calling cards?
  • Helps that weeks ago, as a means to cope, I actually watched an episode of Bing (the British bunny, not the Microsoft search engine) and an unsubbed segment from Shimajiro that both dealt with this topic.

Speaking of Shimajiro...well, get ready, folks--you're in for a long, long read from here on out:

• That tiger cub mascot from Japan--whom America's Daniel on PBS is a contemporary to--landed a permanent spot on my unrecorded "night-flight" stints in late September. ("Unrecorded" because we're warming up on the way to their logs' transition from last year's paper to this season's Miraheze.) All it took was a YouTube search for "Shimajiro 1993", which led to a plethora of OBVs⊙ of ca. 2000-2001 episodes (now sadly "copystruck" along with the associated fan channel which began in April, this being animé on YouTube)...and I was on my way.
• So far, I have made five Shimajiro-related submissions to Reddit, one of which (on the recent death of one of its seiyuu, Saori Sugimoto) became my most upvoted by far. (~180 ups; on r/anime's front page during its first ~24 hours; surpassed the ~94 of u/Berrry-tea's "Peach Raccoon!" from earlier in January.) One more for now's on the way any moment after press time.
• Some time ago, a tip from Deviant "JoshuaT1306" led me to a very early, hitherto-unknown-till-now attempt to bring Shimajiro and friends to America--predating WildBrain's current WOW! dub by 26 years! Well, now you know what my wiki's next namespace, "From the Author", will be partly for--and that's your next reminder. (There's so much research at stake from a one-time-only, underseen 21-minute VHS-only pilot--the likes of which Benesse [at the time of the tape's printing, Fukutake Shoten], Wikipedia, IMDb, or even Amazon have never once acknowledged--that a Miraheze-based rundown [complete with updated versions] is practically the best avenue. Followed by a relay at r/lostmedia [who have time and again dealt with animé], then an embed at r/ObscureMedia. This may finally bring LMW to updating/rewriting their article on the rumoured late '90s dub; remember when Doraemon hit Barbados in the late 1980s? [The Adanson team now does.])
• A little bit of Sugimoto trivia for those viewing the latest 7-day-only WOW! episodes on the official Japanese YouTube channel: Two weeks ago, episode #489 was the last to be uploaded before word on her death hit the news wires; last week's #490 was not only the first after said announcement, but also the last to originally air on TV Setouchi/TV Tokyo while she was still alive. (Stay tuned as I schedule #491 on this week's itinerary.)

And over in Rogatia, the Atlantic Ocean Bulwark where my forthcoming Sevton Saga is set:

• Six years after the first 65-episode "collection" was syndicated regionwide through predecessor Skouras, WildBrain Caribbean is carrying the final two stories (#725 and #726) of the classic, subtitled 1993-2008 run. (This Friday at 3:30 p.m. Atlantic/2:30 ET on Stride, ZHSR-DT 21.1; as they always say, check local listings in other islands.) This week's run of episodes--which included #711 - #720 on Sunday (Rogatia's Independence Day), #721/#722 on Monday, #723/#724 on Wednesday, and three "specials" (Thursday; 3:00-4:30 local time) that were originally screened exclusively at the franchise's live galas in Japan back in the late 1990s--carried a dedication credit to Ms. Ramurin Makiba herself in place of the traditional "blueback" sponsor roll inherited from the original broadcasts. With "Collection" #11 now in the CMC member stations' history books (that's Caribbean Media Corporation for those outside the Antilles), the future is now looking bright (albeit a bit bittersweet) for the local, multi-million-EC$ license--and how!
  • The day after the classic run's finale, WildBrain finally enters the food and catering business with Miracle Doughnuts--"From the World of Shimajiro". While the original toy line remains exclusive to Kodomo Challenge participants in its native Japan (that's where the mascot and friends got their start back in April 1988), its spotlight WOW! episode "Would You Like a Donut?" got exported to the Western world. So has this tie-in brand, plus concept and menu highlights--under license from Benesse, and in conjunction with Inspire Brands and various local franchisees. Seven outlets will open across Rogatia--three in Shropshire Province (Trouvaille, Gaudium, and Weehawken), two in Elmshire (Weymouth and Jouannigot), and the remainder in Yorkshire (Maidenhall and Ragnarsson)--with locations in Trinidad, Barbados, Dominica, Antigua, Tortola (B.V.I.), San Juan (PR), and Jamaica to follow suit before school exams in December. (All facilities will follow safety/distancing/mask protocols.)
    As a Shimajiro tie-in, there's so much to check out--the Shimano son's trademark snack of choice; "octopus pancake puffs" (Flappy/Torippi the parrot's favourite, a.k.a. "takoyaki" in the original version); birthday cakes modelled after the Kodomo Challenge gang and their allies; tile decor with you-know-whom (and several extras from various eras of the animé); and episodes from the classic run (plus a few Kodomo segments) screened on overhead monitors, chosen at random.
    All accompanied by this de facto jingle that recently surfaced on the Japanese WOW! several weeks ago--giving America's Dunkin' (also owned by Inspire) a literal "run" for their money. What a time to be alive!
    
    Quite the treat for a franchise (no pun intended) whose only regional merchandise until 2018 were tie-in Shirley crackers from Barbados' WIBISCO (only manufactured to keep the Skouras license afloat as a favour to Benesse).
  • As for that "Donut" episode (which may or may not be geoblocked in future), skip to ~8:08. (No, Answer Studio animators, that is not how animal characters should be wearing stethoscopes.)
    
  • There's a reason for the Miracle chain (and then some): 2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac, and WildBrain is taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime marketing opportunity. Part of which involves:
    • The week-long premiere (10 segs. × 10 min.) of the animé's next era, originally titled Hakken Taiken Daisuki! but renamed Paradise (after the Kodomo soundtrack highlight serving as its theme) for the Caribbean market, this November 22;⊙⊙
    • the Challenge Island mascots (Shimajiro and Flappy, plus Nikki the kitten and Mimi-Lynne the rabbit kit) officially ringing in the New Year, live in Trouvaille at the stroke of midnight;
    • a free 24/7 channel on the inaugural Rogatian lineup of Pluto TV next March (containing the classic run, but also featuring select highlights from WOW! and Kodomo);
    • a package of end-title sequences for fall 2022's WOW! run, animated by Weymouth's TJE and customised for each airing territory;⊙⊙
    • and Adventures on Challenge Island, the long-awaited 13-disc DVD box set of Collection 1 (on May 5, Shimajiro's in-universe birthday). So long-awaited, its 500,000+ orders since WildBrain's mid-October announcement broke national pre-sale records--for a few reasons.
      1. Those episodes have never come out on DVD anywhere; only the first 48 stories made it to tape in Japan; and only selections from the early 2000s are officially around on various Japanese online vendors.
      2. Back in early 2015, Skouras wanted to do a complete series set in the first place, but cost and convenience logistics forced them to scrap the idea and go with a different distribution method; 726 stories remain way too much even for casual consumers. (At least the 296-episode Hamtaro collection was a walk in the park--or the cage, come to think of it.)
      3. When the original series ran on Caribbean TV, everyone--from teachers and school principals, to entire Ministries of Education, to parents and mom-bloggers, and even Skouras and Benesse themselves--encouraged fan taping and DVR archives. (Even participating stations were encouraged to keep their copies for posterity; after all, this is one of the defining institutions of Japanese E/I.) Once those proverbial tapes floated all over the islands through dedicated fans and cloud users, Skouras withheld further plans on any sort of official home release--only to take back their word a little in 2019 when they dropped in a few 1995-96 episodes as special features/Easter eggs on other titles of theirs. (Starting in January 2020, WildBrain continued this practice [extending the coverage to 1999] after they established their regional operations with the "Fun and Family" catalogue their precursor once handled. Audiences know the latter today as A24 Antilles, which prides itself on the same arthouse/indie/foreign fare that kept the old Skouras' revenue in check.)
• In a perfect universe, classic Shimajiro was supposed to end in summer 2020. However, this being the Caribbean market, everything from test-cricket pre-emptions to competing kodomomuke (looking at you, Sanrio) to hurricane season conspired to throw its run off course if your station wasn't in the southern Caribbean (read: Rogatia, Trinidad, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, Martinique, and mainland territory Guyana). In 2017 especially, the double whammy of Irma and Maria caused the rest of the region to forgo new episodes, picking things up a year later (some 130 episodes behind Rogatia et al.--and ~18-19 years behind Japan.) Then Rogatia itself took 2020-21 off in favour of a rerun cycle that covered the first 200 episodes and traded in "Skip Step Island"/"Happy Jam Jam" (OP/ED theme #2, which Skouras/WildBrain used on all of their original subbed masters) for "Shima Torando Island"/"Zutto Motto Daisuki" (used during 1993-98 and unseen locally till then).⊙⊙⊙ Almost the remainder of the Antilles managed to catch up, and joined the steadfast outlets with #651/#652 on September 27. (Save for the Bahamas, thanks to Dorian in 2019--to the point where official Caribbean-exclusive uploads on WildBrain Watashi's YouTube channel have since had to suffice.) WildBrain cited COVID-19, Rogatian media's stagnancy, cash strains from the A24 split, and their Canadian parent's WOW! license as the official factors.
• Word from WildBrain on their local tweet feed, November 1: When all was said and done, the Shimajiro license drained the arthouse outlet and kidvid concern of EC$42 million (US$15.73 million)--setting what may be an industry record in-universe or off. (Average asking price per episode: EC$57,851 [US$21,667].) No wonder Skouras' slate had fewer titles per year heading into the A24 era....

...and at that point, I'm really running out of words. Looking at the surface I've scratched above, you can tell how much of a fan I've been in just mere weeks alone!

Pandemic-related postscript: Rogatia, by some wonderful miracle, still has three recorded cases under its belt (all from last March--and all have already recovered). Vaccinations have been underway in all three Shires since late August. No passenger aircraft, or indoor movie theatres, until 80% of the adult populace gets their shots; those who were previously repatriated/quarantined (as late as last September) had their turn first.

• As for drive-ins, every parish now has at least one within 30-60 minutes' driving distance--and to think the facility in Welkeston, Trouvaille, Shropshire held its own as the only such outlet for decades. (Rogatia is in the tropics, which benefits their year-round operations.)

Speaking of furries and food--and because we need to spruce things up with a thumbnail--saying hi once again to "Nik159". Promised a couple of follow-ups months ago on Nerday, but never got around to them. Relayed here with his previous blessings; next time, next namespace, a belated Sam-and-Alfie freebie.

As we wind things down here:

• In the Dixwell universe, Adanson and their compilers are still on break. This morning, Kino Lorber has issued a mandate ordering production to shut down until everyone on their payroll receives a vaccine--all 5,280 professional and homesteader animators combined.⊙⊙⊙⊙ (Between Volume 9 [Musical Grand Prix back in early June] and today, production on whatever next is on the Reflections queue--regular installment or open-source supplement--has been slowing down to a crawl anyway due to staff burnout. Remember, they all teamed up around the clock--and around the world--to deliver 6 to 8 three-hour movements per volume.)
  Once they come back, we're planning the lineups days or weeks in advance--on none other than Constant Noble, thanks to the Jukebox utilities already at our disposal and a brand-new bulletin board for "Adanson's Docket". Because there were way too many cues to handle after so many months by the time we relaunched, best to start all over with "RFB", or "Reflections Series B"--i.e. Season 2; aiming for Christmas if all goes well. As always, there's the LFM version of the Jukebox if you want to keep track. (But then you have the usual competition: RFM, Unspooled manuscript, night flights...)
  • On a related note: So much long ago that I can't recount exactly when, it delighted me when GoneMAD announced its Auto DJ feature--well worth the purchase if you've moved on from the trial version. Finally, Adanson's hefty-defty randomiser has improved! Giving this a brief try--but no scrobbles--anytime this weekend.
• Over on the front page of the Internet: Early last month, Reddit finally dropped its six-month comment deadline on most subs, a move I started to notice when offering a belated guess to an animé fan's query at r/TipOfMyTongue. But depending on the user: Too little, too late, or better late than never--G+ was already offering infinite deadlines back when that was around.
• Last but not least: Time for the mascot wiki icon (by "KanejjiKun"); a renewal of my Wikimedia Meta master page (with text from the Constant Noble version); an update of my furry-site bios; and a tweak to my Hive mini-bio--any moment before November's over.

After nearly three years post-G+, our STM/Hive/Ecency exclusives come to an end--but not this feed, thankfully. Come next week (vaccination/outlook pending), "From the Author" marks a new chapter in the continuing saga of Cpt. Routhwick. New posts and reruns on Miraheze; relays to you-know-where on a variable delay. And in the days ahead, the last few namespaces in Constant Noble's system will get rolled out--at long last! (Meaning I can at least concentrate on bits and pieces Unspooled--the one with the boy-raccoon cousins--as time and ideas permit.)

And as always, sorry if I seemed to ramble on; hopefully those months-long breaks will become a thing of the past. A lesser variant on "Protection from Editors"--every amateur has 'em.

Until then, stay safe, wash your hands, remember your shot...and God bless.

All of us, and George Floyd's family.

May the stories begin...

#WhatLiesAground

⊙ "Original Broadcast Videos", coined here for this entry by analogy with "Original Broadcast Audio"--which fans of the classic Dragon Ball (Z) era may be all too familiar with. (Highly sought after for years thanks to Toei discarding the stereo masters to make room for newer shows.)
⊙⊙ Official music videos, the latter unsubbed:


⊙⊙⊙ Somehow reminiscent of "Rise and Shine" ~ "Meet the Flintstones" on Turner channels in the 1990s.
⊙⊙⊙⊙ Or, the number of feet in a mile, an altitude that Denver famously lies at.