• The Twelve Days of Anime are still going strong! Here’s a helpful Google spreadsheet where you can read posts from everyone who is participating.
• It’s the time of year when people are starting to post their blogging round-ups. Here’s Katy’s from Yatta-tachi: Editor-in-Chief’s Favorite Yatta-Tachi Articles from 2016
• Anigamers started a new podcast called Oldtaku no Radio. Now that I’m 30 I feel obligated to listen to this. Loved their recent discussion all about one of my favorite shows of 2016, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.
• Love when readers write to me with comments, questions, or just to talk. Videogamep of Anime Opinions asked me how to get more traffic to his blog, so I’m promoting him here. I liked his editorial/tutorial on How to kill off characters.
• When I think of Japan I think sake, but Japanese whiskey is enjoying a boom, both domestically and abroad. I picked up some Suntory Toki recently, which is pretty cheap but I liked its mild, corn-like taste. The New York Times published an immersive take on touring Japanese whiskey breweries. HT Zoe.
• 2016: The Year the Internet Became Real. Remember when the Internet was an anoymous escape instead of the place we, or at least I, mainly live and work? Leigh Alexander does.
• Didn’t expect to be reading about Yuri!!! on Ice on video game news site Polygon, but here we are! Yuri on Ice brought me back to anime.
• Finally, I was picked to be a judge for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, along with pro wrestler Xavier Woods, director LeSean Thomas, and other big names. I voted blind about a month ago, and did not know who the other judges were until the whole thing was announced. Needless to say, it’s probably my biggest honor of the year. About two of my picks made it into every final category. You should go vote!

Photo via this Tumblr, via Bakuman