I'm loving Gilgamesh, a suspenseful, creepy, sexy new anime (episode 5 just came out). Official site is here. Go download the BT below.

Kiyoko is an awesome heroine. She doesn't have any cool occult powers like Robin, or Hitomi, or Yuzu, but she has perfect pitch and in Ep. 5, she plays, and then sings a really pretty song. I can't wait for ep. 6! Don't be put off by the strange character design! True, the pouty/thickly drawn lips jars with the typical "pretty" anime face, but you get used to it really quickly.

So, besides Gilgamesh, my other current fansub obsessions are Peace Maker Kurgane, and Full Metal Panic: Fumufu. I tried your recommendation of Chromartie High, but the humour sort of glanced off me >_<;;.

The whole Jessica Lynch story reminds me of the Sci-fi novel, Cordelia's Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold. In the novel, when Cpt. Cordelia Naismith says that she wasn't raped by the enemy, her beaucratic superiors and military psychiatrists argue that she really was, but that she just doesn't remember the ordeal. The parallel between the Bujold novel and Lynch's situation is eerie.

Top left corner; what a cute Wolfwood! He'd be a dead ringer if he was 10 years older, more scruffy. Bottom right is a great Vash. Ah, I love my Trigun. ^__^;;

Does anyone have an MP3 of Rurouni Kenshin's 2nd Opening, "Namida wa Shittiru"? And if so, could you PLEEEASE send me copy of it? I don't know why, but I suddenly felt an urge to hear it again >_<;;

Oh yeah, school's killing me. 4 essays are due.

The English language has sunk to a new low. Rumsfeld in his memo regretfully calls the mess he and the American administration has made of Iraq a "long, slow slog". He also tries to draws this conclusion: the rebuilding of Iraq is proving to be "harder" and not "speeder".

Orwell is rolling in his grave right now, and I'm squirming in my seat. It makes me mad that Rumseld is using undignified, colloquial, not to mention imaginary (what's this new adv. "speeder"?) words to discuss this sobering catastrophe, the invasion of Iraq. The language of politics does more harm to degenerate the English language than Eminem ever could.

I got the flu during Thanksgiving Weekend--got the full treatment: light-headedness, fatigue, runny nose and sneezing. Luckily, I seem to have recovered my stamina yesterday; today, I felt just fine.

I've been working pretty hard on Fifay Network: I coloured a bunch of Peace Maker manga art and made wallpapers from the pictures. I even uploaded some Mediaeval Baebes MP3s--so all you New Age music fans, go there and d/l! Between this project, studying for 2 tests (on Thursday), and 4 essays (due in November), I've started to feel over-worked again. I haven't had a good run in over a week, nor had any time to socialize with friends. All this physical inactivity is working itself up to some baaad pent-up chi (and some psychedelic dreams). Urgh! Times like these, I wish my Dad was in town.

Di, I d/l ep. 3 of the live-action Sailor Moon. It was actually pretty cute! Sailor Moon herself was adorable, unlike her dub incarnation. And Tuxedo Kamen, despite the dorky masked outfit, seemed rather hot. Good rec XP. BTW, I hope your post-surgery is still going well!

Earth to Amy, where are you sweetie? Did you move last month? I hope you're doing well!

Leigh-san, of course I would wholly support whatever your decision will be concerning BlueNET! Yeeh, I can sympathize with your situation. When I was taking care of 9 sites, I grew to feel like my sites were taking over my life--and that having sites was a rather pointless activity. When Furuba.ORG shut down, and Brinkster deleted my old SMJ site, some of the pressure came off and I began to feel comfortable about being an anime webmistress again. Maybe it's just a phase you're going through, or maybe you truly need to downsize and cut out the superfluous sites to better enjoy those sites that interest you the most. Gambatte!

Oh yeah, I had to read a play for my Drama class called Fortune and Men's Eyes by John Herbert. It looks at homosexual predation in Canadian JV Reformatories. While the play is quite sober and deep and all that...I, being a conditioned shounen ai fangirl, could not help but enjoy the side romance between Mona and Smitty. I'm so shallow!

Gotta run!

I finished watching a fansub copy of Wonderful Days, that gorgeously animated, sci-fi dystopia, animated flick from Korea. I've never seen such beautiful irridescent colours in anime before. There's this scene where the main guy swims across an underground pool, and the water-ripples were so pretty they made me thirsty XP.

School is getting extremely busy. Modern Drama is probably my hardest course because I haven't studied modern literature very much. To tell you the truth, I have a difficult time understanding the mind-frame and motivation of a modern writer, who, I always feel, is invariably radical, cynical, expressionistic, existentialistic, nihilistic, irreglious, and more often than not, rather arrogant. Anyway, I'm giving a presentation on Strindberg in less than 2 weeks so I've got my work cut out for me!

I've made two sets of new friends. One set is "artsy", they're kind of laid-back and relaxed. The other is more uptight and driven--they remind me of myself in fact. They're all very interesting individuals.

Oh yeah, I picked up my coloured contacts finally, they're so cool! The gray tint mixes with the black to produce a sort of silvery brown.

I just finished watching Gravitation. *breathes in deeply* This is such a thoroughly satisfying series!!! I can't wait to read the Tpop translated manga--where, presumably, all the characters, sidestories and backstage sissy fights are expanded in depth.

I'm alive Aki-chan! School HAS been busy, but I must confess, during what little free time I had in the last couple of weeks, I was finishing off Sharon Shinn's Samaria novels. If you liked Angel Sanctuary (ie., Angels as protagonists), you might enjoy this author. Oh, Trin's new layouts rocks! Laine, grrr--may the little thief continue in his/her line of nefarious activities and thereby dig his/her own grave. *sigh* People these days, sheesh.

Hayo! Well, school has been extremely busy. The first week is always hectic--a whirlwind of activities. I'm meeting a lot of new people, as well as reading a ton of new materials, that I'm kept busy pretty much all day long. This is not a bad thing. As some of you may know, I can quickly fall into a morose, depressed state when I have nothing to occupy my time with. I'm also happy to report that my Renaissance Poetry/Prose class is my favourite so far ^__^.

My Profs this year are all highly qualified (although, I'm not too sure about my Canadian drama prof)--and quite strict. So far so good.

Di, I'm glad to hear that you're all settled into uni life! Is this Ross guy your boyfriend? Sav, I'm glad that you're watching SP! After EXILE, it's my favourite series (am d/l ep. 21 as we speak)...

At long last, I saw Bowling for Columbine on DVD. This movie was even more thought-provoking and entertaining than I was led to expect from the media hype.

Trin, I'm glad you're not going to starve to death now ^_~. Sometimes, I think I'm too "safe" in my designs--that my layouts are too colour-coordinated and conventional. I want to do something like Leigh's bold layouts, but my attempts always backfire. However your and Amy's appreciation of my pallette are always very encouraging!

Plugs the long awaited return of Laine!

Am simultaneously reading Utopia and Sharon Shinn at the moment. Couldn't be happier. Wah, only 2 more days to the school year.

Ordered another horde of contact lenses today...and then tomorrow, I'll be going in to try on coloured contacts. I'm so excited. I may actually max out my credit card at this rate...

I was listening to some old tapes I had to buy for my music theory class years ago, and I was struck once more by the charm of 14th century French ballads ("L'autre d'antan" and "Ce fut en mai" are very pretty). So, I went to the bookstore yesterday and bought Medieaval Baebes' The Rose (2002) and Music from the time of Da Vinci. Both CDs are awesome! MB's last CD, Undrentide, has better music, but the linguistic scope of the new one is (maybe) more sophisticated. Some of the songs are in Old English, Early English, Italian, etc. If you're a Renaissance fan like me, then I'd recommend them to you.

Oh yeah! Menagerie's promised layout is finally up (along with new wallpapers). Thanks so much Pam for taking care of the server problem so quickly.

Why does my post title say "irritated"? Well, I'm very irritated at my Mother right now. You see, as my thyroid levels are approaching the normal/hypothyroidic line, my formerly fast metabolism has slowed down. I can't eat the same amount of food as before--else I'd get really fat. Thus, I'm trying to limit my portions because I do NOT want to buy new jeans, etc. Strangely enough--and annoyingly enough--my Mom is making a big deal of it. She keeps urging me to "eat, eat!" Sometimes, it's just TOO obnoxious when your Mom, despite being more than twice your age, is thinner, smarter, and prettier than you!

Okay!! There used to be this mouse who liked to sneak into our addition in the middle of the night and pilfer bird seeds. Well, this morning, my mousetrap FINALLY worked *smiles*. It turned out to be a rather small, brown field mouse--actually, it was rather cute looking (if one ignores the flattened jugular and popped out eye. I felt rather euphoric for ridding the house of this unwelcomed pest. Now, if I can only get rid of that cocky black squirrel who mocks me with his irreverence to authority (I threw a pebble...or five...at him today and he didn't so much as twitch).

The only show I've been watching on a semi-regular basis these days is M1-5 (on A&E). It's really exciting, really addictive.

I slept for 3 hours straight this afternoon (after watching volume 2 of Samurai Deeper Kyo...more on that later), and now I feel rejuvenated and happy. This is going to be a whirwind sort of update because I have to surrender the laptop to its rightful owner when she gets out of the shower, ie., my Mom. Yes, sadly, my desktop is BUSTED.

So many of you are back at school now. Poor dears! Ontarian uni students have another week ^_^;;

Yesterday, I re-organized my Dad's books. What was once hundreds and hundreds of books, crammed into the most inaccessible of nooks and cranies--the basement rooms, the bedroom closets, the bird-supply area--is now neatly categorized by genre and literary periods. It was tiresome work, and sometimes, quite dirty too, but being surrounded by so many books i such a pleasant feeling. In another week, I think I might actually be ready for the third year.

Yaaaaay, my Mom paid my tuition today. No real hurry, but I guess it's better to get things done when you can still remember to.

OMG, Last Exile 21--fantastic. I've said it before, but I think this is the best fantasy series I've seen since Esca. Have you seen it yet? Once I finish collecting them, I can send you a copy if you want. Oh, yes, SDK. We get to see a lot of Yukimura Sanada who is even more delightful this time round than the last (he gets a costume change and it's lovely!). Some funny Dutch guy with--incomprehensibly--a rolling Italian accent pops up and lectures Kyo, Yuki and the rest for being hot-headed machos. Magaria (sp? let's just call him "Maria" for convenience sake) is pretty hot, except for his didactic speeches. This series is really crazy. The dialogue jumps all over the place, the scenes move at a stacatto pace, the characters are all too beautiful, but they are also as stiff as cardboard cutouts. Despite its obvious deficiencies (esp. compared to Kenshin), it's still a fun series--I believe I'll continue watching it. Certainly, I'll be following the Tokyo Pop manga releases (the manga is a LOT better than the anime).

Getbackers 45 was a joke. More on that later. Maybe.

Trin, I know what you mean about picking the WORST time to make site overhauls. I hate the idea of spending hours making the necessary overhauls to my wallpaper site, so I think I'm just going to reduce it to just a few select pieces. Hmm. I don't feel like working on my sites at all these days.

I can't explain it, but my budgie, Sophie died very suddenly and mysteriously sometime during the night. I've been checking our bird books and on the internet for causes of this kind of sudden death--but so far, the only thing that has popped up is a case where a budgie died from breathing in poisonous fungi in the air. My Mom was pretty upset because Sophie was her little bird. I was feeling puzzled, perplexed and sad--and calm. My Mom, who is a little bit capricious at times, said that I was "so cold".

Sophie was a lovely, lively little creature. But she was just a budgie.

Well, Dad's gone again. Oh...I think someone is leeching off my cable because for some reason, it's been extremely slow all week.

I saw Chicago (fiiiinally) and it was SUPER. I loved it so much I got the soundtrack the next day (ie., yesterday). Here's the first song, All That Jazz, sung by the mega talented Catherine Zeta Jones.

Wah, so many things to get finished before school starts--both academic projects and site. *clutches head* Woah, only 2 weeks left.

You're new layout is as pretty as a garland. Lol, maybe you could quip some Nietzsche next time the Christian guy tries to pester or convert you. Gomen, e-mail reply coming soon! Aki, looky, I made some caps of old layouts below ^_^.

Gawd, I gotta go now because I'm all out of things to say.

Testing, testing, 1, 3, 5, 11...

Daddy came back from Scotland late (grrr...*really* late; I had to stay up to let him into the house) last night. I think he's staying for a couple of days before heading to China.

Urgh, there are so many site projects I want to finish before school starts on September 8th. Blah, I agree with Blink, coding layouts is a tedious, monotonous, boring, time-consumming thing. Or, in Newspeak, it's UNFUN.

Laetitia is alive! With a gorgeous new layout too. Boohoo, I also got Catherine Parr. My fate was probably sealed when I choose the Barnes and Noble gift certificate over the cruise trip. Strangely, despite the fact that she was smarter than Aragon, Seymour, and most definitely Howard, I like Anne Boleyn and Cleves best. Which reminds me, did you ever read/see the David Starkey biography of Six Wives? A very dramatic and atmospheric retelling!

Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?
this quiz was made by the proper Victorian ladies at Spookbot

Edit: Ahh, I almost forgot. New layout is up. I can say for the first time...that I like it 100%!

Alias: Rem (real: Penny)
ASL: 21 (Aug. 03 1982), F, Toronto
Collective: Fifay.net
Uni: UToronto
Specialist: English
Plans: Grad school, C16th Studies
Heroes: Parents, Austen, Lewis
E-mail: clicky
g-book: sign
Archives

This is a nostalgic visual elegy to Sozo Sagara, Cpt. of the Seikihoutai from Rurouni Kenshin. He ought to have symbolized the rising middle class, instead, Sagara and his little troop of merchants, farmers and little orphan boys are ruthlessly trampled down by the Imperialist government. The warm colours and restful pose of Sagara will (hopefully) soothe my nerves when school starts up again--in less than 3 weeks (waaah!!). Thanks to Void for the leafy brushes, this Seta site & RK Network for the pics.

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[I.speak: mandarin & french]
*cough* :: Wolfwood
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Piqued: Last Exile, GTO, Scrapped Pr., BOTI, Kaori Yuki
Adores: Vash, Yuzuriha, Barbiel
Pets: 2 cockatiels & 1 budgie (RIP).
Chew: Cereal
Peeve: anything "popular" and unmarked spoilers (grrr)
Fav. Authors: Austen, Sherwood Smith, Shakes, Sharon Shinn
Hated Mandatory Reading: --
Listening to: Hikaru, Bach, Tori
Watching: --
I write: awful fanfiction
Wish List: Laptop, portable MP3 player, Pretear, RK 45+, X-Japan "Ballad Collection", a snake, $$, see Britain, and world peace.

Hosted by Pitas.com and BlueNET! My blog has been online since Aug. 30, 01. *wooo! -_-;*