[KUROZUKIN] Mina in Wonderland

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Here's a handy tip in case you ever get stuck in a bad sci-fi movie: try reversing the polarity. It's always the solution.

For now, the puppy is officially named Blue. As in the one with the Clues, not as in the big badass black hunting-dog from Wolf's Rain. Though come to think of it, it would be amusing to see that old wolf hunter guy (forgot his name) doing the "we just figured out Blue's Clues" dance. ^^

Martians attacked at 10:30 p.m.! Where were you?

Monday, March 24, 2003

The puppy sleeps a LOT. The cats are giving her a wide berth -- Tigger skulks and watches her like the train wreck you can't turn away from, while Shawn just pretends to ignore her. Pichu seems happy to have another dog to play with. Puppy still doesn't have a name. Mom says maybe a Japanese name since she's part Japanese Spitz, but oddly enough we haven't been able to come up with any outstanding possibilities. (Well, there's always Peropero. ^^)

Oscars pretty dull this year, possibly because nearly all of the movies nominated were ones I hadn't seen. The only award I was really interested in was the first one they gave out. (Spirited Away won! It's a frigging miracle! ^__^) Though I was also amused to see Sir Sean Connery dressed in what appeared to be an Austin Powers outfit. O___o

Martians attacked at 10:20 p.m.! Where were you?

Sunday, March 23, 2003

WE HAVE A NEW PUPPY. She is a Japanese Spitz/Pomeranian mix, white with dark grey spots, and blue eyes. (Do their eyes change color as they get older, like with kittens?) No name yet. Still need to think of a good name for a cute girl puppy.

Martians attacked at 03:13 p.m.! Where were you?

Sunday, March 23, 2003

Ahhh, Mary Reilly, my most favorite movie EVER. XDDD It's scary how obsessed I was with that movie in high school. I even tracked down and read the original Mary Reilly novel; though I guess it didn't leave as much of an impression on me, because I only read it once, while I've watched the movie about a billion times. I think I could even recite the lines along with the characters, complete with Julia Roberts' spotty accent. XD Come to think of it, that must've been the thing that started my fascination with Victoriana -- carried on into the present day through my slavering obsession with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (And please, don't ever ask about my ideas for a wacky LoEG/Mary Reilly crossover. You don't want to know.)

Martians attacked at 12:39 a.m.! Where were you?

Friday, March 21, 2003

I can't believe we completely missed Star Trek: Nemesis. >_____< How can it be played out in theaters after only a week? Damn it to hell. Now we'll never find out if it sucked or not.

Martians attacked at 08:51 p.m.! Where were you?

Thursday, March 20, 2003

"Remember, DON'T MENTION THE WAR!" :P

I can't get that damned Astroboy trailer to play properly on our computer, but I heard the whole thing, and the two or three frames I actually saw looked pretty neat. I can't believe I'm getting all excited over an Astroboy remake, considering the original show always depressed me when I watched it as a kid. The episode I remember most clearly is one where Astro meets some girl robot who ends up giving her life to save him or something. So in the end he has his own feet removed and replaced with the dead girl robot's feet, so they can always be together. X___x

Today our class met in the new U.P. Press bookstore, and they were having a sale. So I finally bought that Damiana Eugenio book of Legends. There are about four or five of those huge thick books on Philippine folklore, but the Legends one was what I've been eyeing for some time. It's got some funky stories in there, like the one about how Jose Rizal had superpowers and never really died, and will one day return to deliver the country from oppression. ^o^

Martians attacked at 09:07 p.m.! Where were you?

Monday, March 17, 2003

I do not like hearing phrases like "mysterious disease" and "worldwide health alert" on the news. These are the sorts of phrases you hear in movies where a few weeks later the last surviving members of the human race must fight a climactic final battle against the forces of evil. However exciting this prospect may be, I have a definite feeling that I would not end up one of the chosen few champions, but would instead be one of the grotesque mucus-dripping corpses littering the streets that the champions walk down. Besides, signs seem to point to a climactic world conflict in the very near future anyway. That prospect is unnerving enough without the mysterious deadly flu epidemic going 'round, thank you very freaking much.

Martians attacked at 08:13 p.m.! Where were you?

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Unfortunately I don't have any more fascinating and brilliantly insightful ten-paragraph anecdotes about bookshelves today. Though I did stop by the comic store on the way home from class, and picked up Fruits Basket vol. 11 and Harukanaru Toki no Naka De vol. 6, which will probably result in having to rearrange said bookshelves entirely.

On to the more usual sort of ramblings from me: namely, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie Teaser Poster. For a standard "line up the heads" poster, it looks okay. Decently atmospheric, and with more of an old-fashioned feel to the fonts than previous logos have had. Though it still says EL EX GEE in gigantic letters, while you need a magnifying glass to read the actual title below it. And we have a new contender for the League of Extraordinary Blank-Stare-Inducing Taglines: "THE POWER OF SEVEN BECOME A LEAGUE OF ONE". Never mind that it's grammatically incorrect; what the hell is it supposed to mean? O___o;;; It makes me think vaguely of Charmed and Pokemon. Carlo's theory is that all seven members pilot vehicles that merge together to form a giant robot.

Jekyll (in a high-tech steam train thing): Form left leg!
Tom Sawyer (in a suspiciously anachronistic-looking six-wheeled car thingy): Form right leg!
Griffin (in tripod filched from the Martians, except they never actually invaded and he isn't actually Griffin for copyright reasons): Form left arm!
Mina (in some kind of propeller-driven flying gizmo): Snarl, form right arm, snarl, and did I mention I'm a vampire?
Nemo (in the Nautilus): Form torso!
Dorian Gray (in some sort of rocket-driven bicycle dealie): Form... uh, lower torso, I guess.
Quatermain (in a heavily armed hot-air balloon): AND I'LL FORM THE HEAD!!!

My God, if they actually turn it into a steampunk Voltron, then I will forgive any and all shortcomings this movie may posess and watch it fifty times and buy it on DVD.

Martians attacked at 11:17 p.m.! Where were you?

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Every post recently has begun with "finally" or "at last" or some variation thereof. All my long-unheeded desires are being fulfilled! Next thing you know I'll have that hollowed-out volcano lair I've been petitioning for.

Anyway, today (technically yesterday) I finally delivered that stupid report on children's television in class. Public speaking of any form never ceases to terrify me -- and I mean heart-pounding, gut-squirming fear -- except of course once I actually start, and then it's usually not so bad. And getting that report off my mind must have really given me an energy boost, because once I got home I was seized by an uncontrollable compulsion to arrange my bookshelves. See, new bookshelves were installed in my room yesterday, and all my books from the old shelves were piled on them haphazardly, without any regard to series order or classification.

The manga gave me the most trouble. After deciding to put all CLAMP books together on one shelf, I wondered how I should arrange the other stuff. I had to keep the similarly-sized ones together, but I also wanted to group together all the ones that were by the same artist. Then I kinda wanted to arrange them loosely according to preference, with my favorite series occupying the middle shelves and everything else on the lower and higher shelves. But I also felt compelled to group them according to publisher -- all the Asuka and Asuka DX books, all the Hana to Yume, all the Ribon Mascot, all the Flower Comics, etc. etc. just like in the bookstore. Obviously, I could not do all of these at once.

My conundrum had to be interrupted for dinner at my tito's house, because it's his birthday. Their place is on top of a hill and has a beautiful view of the valley. We go there every New Year's Eve; but it was much nicer now, because the view was clear and unobstructed by firecracker smoke.

Then we went back home; and after some struggle, I finally managed to arrange the manga to my satisfaction. The other books... er, I'll leave them for another day, as that's an even more complicated job. ^^;;; So then I came down here to the computer room and realized that I still have all my Bleach and +Anima volumes lying around. And what happens when I get new manga? AGH. It never ends. >___<

Martians attacked at 01:06 a.m.! Where were you?

Monday, March 10, 2003

Got my hair cut this afternoon, at last. It was at that unwieldly stage where it's not long enough to do anything with but too long to be respectably short. Much better now. Although the people at hair place always blow dry it straight afterwards, and I come out looking like a completely different (straight-haired) person.

Also read Artemis Fowl today. I liked the bits with the fairies and their neat technological doodads. But that Artemis kid was a bit of a prat, really... and what kind of name is "Artemis" for a boy? Might as well name him "Diana Fowl". -_-;; My favorite character was Holly Short, because tough elvish police chicks are cool.

All in all, an interesting book, and unusual for a children's book in that it's A) quite gritty and detailed in terms of violence, and B) quite modern in setting -- most kid's books go more for that "timeless" feel. Heh heh, it even makes a reference to Riz Khan being on CNN. Is Riz Khan still on CNN? I haven't seen him in ages.

Martians attacked at 11:52 p.m.! Where were you?

Sunday, March 9, 2003

Finally got to see Treasue Planet, about six months after the rest of the world. I quite liked it, much better than either Atlantis or Titan A.E. I thought it was cool how it managed to avoid certain Disney movie cliches, such as the Obvious Main Villain who Falls to his Death, and the Forced Romantic Interest (though we did have to bear witness to Captain Amelia/Dr. Doppler's freakish CatDog offspring. O___o;;) Speaking of Captain Amelia, she was so cool, they should have cut out a couple of scenes with that robot and put more of her in.

In other news for the day, I stopped by the Bookstore Formerly Known As Page One and plunked down P500 to reserve HP5, which, if store employees are to be believed, they will be getting on the same date as its US release. Plus I finally found and purchased that first Artemis Fowl book in paperback.

Martians attacked at 05:49 p.m.! Where were you?

Friday, March 7, 2003

And here I thought nothing could replace "Looks like there will be no money for you, crazy round man," as best Samurai Jack line ever. But I was wrong. The best one is now: "You have insulted my footwear. My sandals don't like to be laughed at." And we can add Evil Go-Bots to the long list of cameos for the show.

Martians attacked at 05:35 p.m.! Where were you?

Thursday, March 6, 2003

So do you remember that report I said I was working on? Well, Tuesday I was still working on it. Only Carlo just happened to buy Xenosaga that day, so I spent the the better part of the evening watching that instead of working. Cripes, but that game has a lot of cutscenes. But it was okay, because after that I started working and got a fresh wave of inspiration and managed to finish the stupid thing more or less to my satisfaction by 8:00 Wednesday morning. And then I figured I had better get some sleep, because I didn't want a zombie presenting my report in class. So I plopped into bed and set the alarm on my cellphone for 12, to get me up in time to have lunch and print out some handouts before my 1:30 class. The next thing I remember was rolling over and peering at the display on my phone, which read "2:20".

[THIS PART CENSORED FOR LANGUAGE]

Well, I managed to get dressed in about five seconds flat, and made it for the second hour-and-a-half of class. I had the printout of my report; but I hadn't rehearsed it, I had nothing in terms of handouts and visual aids, and the sum total of my breakfast and lunch consisted of one cracker. Fortunately, there is a God; so the other two people who were supposed to present that day ran long, and my presentation was put off until next week. Unfortunately, in all the confusion I never did get to Church that day for the customary black smear on the forehead. (Lent again already? I'm getting so old; the months are just whizzing by.)

Martians attacked at 11:25 p.m.! Where were you?

Monday, March 3, 2003

FINALLY! Note to self: "new" Samurai Jack episodes beginning on Friday.

Martians attacked at 05:12 p.m.! Where were you?

Sunday, March 2, 2003

So, just to clarify, that Little Mermaid ballet thingy I went to last night was a school ballet. Which means that the main consideration of the production is not plot coherency or talent, but having enough chorus numbers so that all the parents get to see their little darlings on stage in silly costumes. On the program it says "an adaptation from Hans Christian Andersen", but they basically just played all the songs from the Disney movie (and about a half dozen songs from Sebastian's Sing-Along Album or somesuch spinoff) and danced to them. It was strange and confusing; but it warmed my heart to find that there were little kids sitting in the audience who knew all the words to "Part of Your World" by heart. Ha! I'm not so old after all. And we sat next to a very precocious and very tiny girl who complained about the portrayal of Ursula. And afterwards Mom and I had dinner at Bangus, which we haven't gone to in ages. So maybe it was worth missing Hawkgirl smashing anachronistic war machines to watch a transvestite Sebastian lipsynching to "Limbo Rock". Or was it?

And today we all had lunch with our neighbors across the street. It's always kind of strange to see the outside of your house from someone else's house. It was cool because we usually only go inside their place once a year for dinner around Christmastime, but last Christmas they were all out of the country. But today we were invited for lunch, and I got to see their garden during the daytime, for the first time in many years. The last time was when we were kids and the boys killed a small snake there and then incinerated its corpse in a most gruesome manner, involving matches and isopropyl alcohol. Lunch was delicious, by the way.

And then we went home and I took a nap, and had one of those weird dreams where you keep waking up and getting out of bed and doing stuff and then finding yourself back in bed, and realizing that you never actually woke up in the first place. Perhaps I'm still there now.

Martians attacked at 07:57 p.m.! Where were you?

Saturday, March 1, 2003

Mom has tickets to some kind of Little Mermaid ballet thing tonight, and I have to go with her. This would not be so bad, except that tonight on TV they are showing all 1.5 hours of Justice League: The Savage Time. *weep* I don't wanna watch a Little Mermaid ballet! I wanna sit at home and worry about that report I haven't written, while watching Superman and Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl fight Nazis!

Oh well. We're leaving in an hour. Oh God, I've just remembered that at the end of Savage Time, Superman gives Batman a great big dorky hug. I will be missing that to watch a Little Mermaid ballet. T_____T

Martians attacked at 05:24 p.m.! Where were you?

Name: Andrael (aka Andrea L. Peterson)

E-mail: daedalus@icarusfalls.com

Website: Icarus Falls

Age: 21

Location: Manila, Philippines

Material Desires: see here

How Many Roads Must A Man Walk Down?: 42

FAQ:

Q: What the heck is that?

A: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a cool steampunk-ish comic series by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill which has several prominent literary characters banding together to form a Victorian-era superhero team. Aside from the principal characters, the series also contains cameos and references to just about every bit of fiction ever written in the Victorian era. This layout features the cover from Volume 2, issue 3 of the series. And now that I've finally read the issue in question... LOOK OUT, MINA! Don't run into any invisible and brutally violent psycopaths plotting to sell England out to the Martians! Oh God... X____x

Q: No, I mean this thing. What is it?

A: Oh. Well, it's my weblog. I write junk in it.

Q: No, THIS thing!

A: What, that? That's a walrus. Careful, they're very territorial.

Favorite Stuff:

Anime/Manga: Akazukin Chacha, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Vision of Escaflowne, The Big O, Lupin III, KareKano, X, Clover, Tokyo Babylon, Chobits, Fruits Basket, Black Jack, Saiyuki, Hellsing, Bleach, +Anima, etc.

Comics (non-manga): The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Sandman, Thieves and Kings, Age of Bronze, etc.

Books: Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Holes by Louis Sachar, Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, etc.

TV Shows: Star Trek (especially TNG), Samurai Jack, Justice League, Thundercats, Farscape, Futurama, The Simpsons, Cadfael, Black Adder, Absolutely Fabulous, The Young Ones, etc.

Movies: Chicken Run, Back to the Future trilogy, Disney's Tarzan, Labyrinth, Nightmare Before Christmas, Forrest Gump, Oh Brother Where Art Thou?, etc.

Etc: cats, penguins, most kinds of animals, fairy tales, mythology, Green Tea Frappucinos, samurai, Victorian England, robots.