Ooooh! Becky has screencaps of E'S Otherwise Episode 1. I so want to watch this! *throws a tantrum*

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 12:34 p.m.(Friday, April 4, 2003)

Tie colour: Guardian

I wish I could be as optimistic as in her final analysis. OTOH, I have a bad feeling that the US economy is being actively mismanaged so that more jobless young men would join the army to fight another unjust war.

BTW, I reckon that if Bush ever went for a tooth extraction, it would entail decapitating his own head. Cos' that's exactly what he's doing to the Iraqi people.

A lesson in history. Japan's excuse for waging WWII on much of Asia was to "liberate" us from our Western colonial masters. And we all know what a "rosy" picture that was.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 12:44 p.m.(Wednesday, April 2, 2003)

Tie colour: E'S anime

An official site for the E'S anime. I have to say that Maxim looks really good, although I think he ought to keep the glasses on.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 10:38 p.m.(Tuesday, April 1, 2003)

Tie colour: Leslie is gone!

Lika, this will probably break your heart, but HK actor, Leslie Cheung, committed suicide this evening at about 6:30pm. Apparently, it has something to do with his recent break-up with his male lover.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 10:34 p.m.(Tuesday, April 1, 2003)

Tie colour: Of many things, and Asuka

I know I haven't blogged for a long while. It's difficult to talk about petty things when bigger events are raging on elsewhere. Sometimes, it does feel like the world is about to end, when a leader who was not democratically elected (at least not in the sense that most of the civilised and mathematically-inclined world would view democratic elections to be held) tries to use "democracy" as a rallying cry to war. I'm not going to comment on who's the greater of two Evils. Considering the kinds of resources available to both sides, I think the answer is pretty obvious. Either way, it's the people on the ground - the ones fighting and the civilians caught in their midst - who loses, while the so-called leaders either hide in deep reinforced bunkers or play with their family dog half a world away. Gone are the days when Kings and Generals actually had to, in all sense of the word, lead an army to battle, instead of hiding behind rhetorics. At least if anything happened, they got their heads lopped off first. That would really make one think twice before engaging in a senseless war.

Anyhow, depressing reality aside, the depressing fictional world of X is now available on the usual channel.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 01:22 a.m.(Wednesday, March 26, 2003)

Tie colour: Not-Tolkien

LOTR: What if it had been written by someone else? Check out the Sigmund Freud version. Henceforth, I'll not be able to watch Frodo put on the ring in the same light again. >_<

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 08:49 a.m.(Wednesday, March 12, 2003)

Tie colour: Weird LOTR musings

Something strange happened on my way to work. I take the public bus to work every morning. Today, I noticed that right above the windscreen on the driver's side was the word STRIDER. I looked out the window and noticed for the first a sign hanging outside a row of shophouses that says ELF lubricant. Interesting scenarios began to invade my brain. I think I need to stop reading all those Aragon/Legolas smutfics.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 08:43 a.m.(Thursday, February 27, 2003)

Tie colour: Manga rec

Currently reading Cafe Kichijouji de by Yuki Miyamoto and Kyoko Negishi. The story is about the adventures of five bishies working in a cafe, and it is really weird and funny, especially Minagawa, the purple-haired pastry chef with an unhealthy fascination with voodoo dolls and his personal recipe book is in the form of an eerie looking grimoire. Yes, his spells/curses do work. Then there's Maki, the pony-tailed one who's always either at the wrong end of Minagawa's curses or Tarou's (obligatory serious bespectacled bishie) flying pans/mops. If this manga were ever made into an anime, I would probably describe it as Azumanga Daiou in a cafe.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 01:19 p.m.(Wednesday, February 26, 2003)

Tie colour: One true wish

I suspect that Kamui's wish should actually be something like: "I want to live!"

Firstly, this would make it different from all the other wishings that have been going on. Almost everyone, with the exception of Keiichi, has a death wish, usually in the form of wishing to die to protect someone special. Daisuke and Nataku suffered from this. Sorata and Arashi are very likely to be next. Subaru had wanted to die so that Seishirou would find him special, and Seishirou died because he wanted to give Subaru an eye. Couldn't he have just dugged it out?

Anyhow, the "living" wish would fit in with some of the things that Fuuma has been saying, namely that everyone has lost sight of something most important. What could be more important than one's existence? How could one protect that special someone/something if one is already dead? I believe that if Kamui truly wanted to live, then presumably he would be able to discover the power to defeat Fuuma. That he's being badly bashed up by Fuuma shows that his wish to live isn't very strong yet.

In the "frog" episode, Fuuma also commented that very few people in Tokyo have a strong wish to live. We have seen that if the wish to live is strong, Fuuma would grant that wish. If Kamui were to truly wish to live, then it follows that Fuuma would grant him that wish and not try to kill him. Instead, we keep hearing Fuuma declare that he'll kill Kamui

The "living" wish would also explain the purpose of Keiichi's character. Keiichi had once told Kamui that he would continue to live on for his parents' share of happiness. He has provided an alternative for Kamui, an alternative that does not require angsting 24/7. It is also an alternative that would help Kamui survive the deaths of Kotori and possibly Fuuma.

So, will Kamui discover this wish in time?

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 11:32 a.m.(Wednesday, February 26, 2003)

Tie colour: Asuka April

Okay, the updates are available.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 10:17 p.m.(Tuesday, February 25, 2003)

Tie colour: Lethargy

I feel like finally dumping my long ignored Lawful Drug site to, perhaps, clear some space for something else that I love, namely E'S. After chatting with her last night, I'm beginning to acknowledge the glaring weaknesses in many of Clamp's writings, especially in their recent series, and they keep rehashing the same themes about wishes and happiness. I have no idea what XXXholic is about, but given the type of shounen stuff they've been doing, I'm not holding my breath about this one. Though I have to admit that the advert (scroll to bottom and click on link) looks kinda cool.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 04:24 p.m.(Friday, February 21, 2003)

Tie colour: Hope

The new Subaru x Kamui fic, Hope, is up. And no, it has nothing to do with Estel.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 12:03 a.m.(Wednesday, February 19, 2003)

Tie colour: I'm not dead...yet

Sorry to disappoint. *grin*

Well, Chinese New Year zipped past without much incident except for some ugly scratches on my precious dining table, no thanks to my oaf of a younger brother. Anyhow, I should be able to get that SxK birthday fic out on time. *crosses Subaru's eyeball*

Meanwhile, Bagenders has a new crazy episode out. Poor Boromir. Neither life nor death nor afterlife treats him well.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 12:01 p.m.(Tuesday, February 18, 2003)

Tie colour: Subaru - guilty or not?

About the latest Asuka. I'm almost certain that the person who killed Kanoe has to be Subaru because there is simply no one else who could do it. Fuuma is talking to Kamui. Unless there's a clone of him running around that we didn't know about, I can't see how he could be physically present at two locations at the same time.

As for the other DOEs, the only ones who could possibly do the deed, Seishirou and Nataku, are dead. While Satsuki can be a heartless bitch most of the time, I can't see her killing her mentor in cold blood. Yuuto hasn't seen the need to be a murderer yet, so I don't see any reason he should start now, especially with someone whom he often has tea naked. Kakyou can't even strangle his own oxygen tube and Kusanagi is more MIA than DOE. Although having Kusa a murdering bastard would be quite an interesting evil development for the big teddy-bear.

Some bloggers have mentioned the lack of gloves to indicate that Subaru can't be the killer. We have to remember that Kamui is watching the murder as a vision. It doesn't necessarily have to reflect all the minute details. As Fuuma has remarked, people often see only what they want to see and believe only what they want to believe. Kamui wants to believe that only Fuuma is capable of doing all the bad stuff and that Subaru is a total angel who could not kill a fly. Of course the irony is that Subaru is now one of the the Seven Angels of destruction.

There is also a time-line issue mentioned by some others. The thing is, there is a lapse between Kamui seeing the vision and Subaru's arrival. Fuuma made all his mind-twister speeches in between. Plus Kamui had these silent moments where he was trying to think so hard you could see the sexy sweat beads on his face. Subaru has plenty of time to fly from the DOE headquarters to wherever the two Kamuis are having their little meeting.

If Subaru really did the deed, that I have to say that the kid is off his rockers. He is very likely existing in a zombie state where nothing holds any meaning to him, and therefore feels nothing about killing. Kind of like Seishirou. But where Seishirou was emotionless due to a "flaw" in his personality, Subaru is emotionless because he has given up on living life. However, he continues to stay alive for the sake of the eye.

Of course, there is a possibility that Subaru really didn't kill Kanoe. This would require the assumption that if someone dreams that he/she has died that he/she would die in real life. That means Kanoe died because she was killed within the dreamscape by Dark Hinoto. How to explain the visions then? We could put it down to Fuuma toying with Kamui's sanity. Fuuma knows that Kamui wish to believe that Fuuma was the murderer, so he created that illusion that Kanoe was killed by Fuuma. However, for the sake of traumatising the kid for some unknown reasons, he decides to reveal his new Sakurazukamori and suggests that Subaru might have been responsible for Kanoe's death. That should wreck some havoc with Kamui's mental state. We'll just have to see what the future Asuka instalments reveal.

BTW, I'm not really angry with you. *evil smile*

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 10:54 p.m.(Saturday, January 25, 2003)

Tie colour: Asuka updates!

Okay, the updates are done. This instalment is cool, really. Like a good ole Clamp mindf*ck.

BTW, I hope you would rein in your urge to spoil the fun. Or I'm not giving you advance notices in future. *pouts*

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 10:05 p.m.(Friday, January 24, 2003)

Tie colour: Teaser

I just collected my Asuka during my lunch. Updates will not ready till tonight (about 8 hours later). There'll be character death, and Subaru makes an appearance before Kamui. And Kamui looks really pissed off with Fuuma.

Oh yes, there's a free trading card with the pretty Bathtub Kamui illustration I used in one of my previous blog layouts.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 01:51 p.m.(Friday, January 24, 2003)

Tie colour: E'S animated!!!

*screams* Just popped by the Enix website and saw that E'S is going to be made into a TV anime!! Ahhh...I get to see Kai, Yuuki, Eiji and Maxim in action!! *hyperventilates*

But, there are only 9 out of a possible 26 volumes of manga out. So, is this going to be an open ended 1st season kind of thing? That would be cool. Anyone with the GFantasy magazine to help?

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 05:25 p.m.(Monday, January 20, 2003)

Tie colour: Hero -- style over substance

Caught the movie on Sunday with her. I have to say that this movie is an altogether pretentious drivel meant to hoodwink the Academy for an undeserved Foreign Film Oscars. Best Cinematography I can grant that. Each frame is lush eye-candy. Plot-wise, there is very little, perhaps like 15mins of story. Everything else is there to fill in the time. And Zhang Ziyi's character is totally extraneous to the show. Take her out and there's no harm done, except perhaps the lack of a recognisable face to attract Academy attention.

Oh, I know all about the use of colours to express certain themes. But this technique succeeds only when it is subtle, not over-the-top like in this movie. In fact, I could summarise the show in a short parody.

Parody with character deaths spoilers (highlight with mouse): King Qin wished to know how Jet Li's Wuming managed to kill three highly skilled assassins. Wuming replied that everyone was wearing Red, and like the idiom "red rags to a bull", the assassins saw red and killed each other over fits of jealousy in a convoluted tale not unlike a bad angst romance fanfic. Qin didn't buy his story, especially when one scene depicted a duel under lush autumnal trees in a small city trapped in the middle of a desert. Instead, Qin gave his conjecture that everyone was wearing Blue. Blue being the colour of depression, the assassins saw the hopelessness of the situation and either killed themselves or allow themselves be killed. Wuming, realising his game was up, revealed the truth.

Years ago, the two Green-wearing lover-assassins, Canjian (Tony Leung) and Feixue (Maggie Cheung), successfully stormed into palace and tried to assassinate Qin. At that time, the main hall of the palace was decorated with lots and lots of huge green day curtains. Canjian took one look and realise that the decor was totally off. He did a quick revamp of the place by slicing away all the curtains. Qin apparently liked the new look and made sure his main hall was kept fuss-free since then. However, the memory of those green day curtain killed Canjian's appetite for green, and from that day henceforth, Canjian and Feixue decided that White was a better colour, and that was what they actually wore. Anyhow, Wuming, realising that he didn't like wearing the Qin kingdom's Black, elected to die under a hail of arrows. A servant rushed back with a yellow cloth to Feixue. Feixue, deciding that yellow was so totally not her colour, challenged Canjian to a duel before he could force her to wear the darn thing. Canjian saw her point and allowed her to kill him. In order to prove her point that White was still the best colour, Feixue dragged Canjian's body to the top of a plateau (they were fighting in White in the sands below), and spooning her body behind that of her lovers, she pushed in the sword that was already sticking out of Canjian's chest, and made a pretty two-person shish-kebob in White. Zhang Ziyi's Ruyue wanted to join in, but the sword, alas was too short to take one more person, so she flailed her arms wildly and wailed. End of movie.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 08:38 a.m.(Monday, January 20, 2003)

Tie colour: Parody

At last, a decent parody of FOTR, and it's in prose.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 07:30 p.m.(Saturday, January 11, 2003)

Tie colour: The love of Kamui

I can't answer for the other SxK fangirls, but you've got it wrong where I'm concerned. I love Kamui, and I think that Subaru is an idiot most of the time. But I forgive him because he has shown that he does care for the kid and he can make Kamui happy. And Kamui likes him.

On the other hand, my observation of SxS fangirls tell me that they're generally more concerned about Seishirou rather than Subaru. Once Seishirou kicked the big one, were they hoping that Subaru could find happiness elsewhere? Nooooo!!!! It was all about "Subaru had better kill himself"/"Subaru had better not shack up with Kamui"/"Subaru must Diieeeeeeee!!!!!!"

Honestly, if Subaru were to die, I wouldn't want Kamui to kill himself. I'm perfectly satisfied if he could find some happiness with Keiichi or somebody else (but that's only if Subaru was dead). Similarly, if Kamui were not to survive the Promised Day a la the TV series, I'm fine with Subaru shacking up with spaced out Fuuma if that's what it takes to make him happy.

See, I'm not selfish. Just that SxK takes first dibs.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 05:03 p.m.(Friday, January 10, 2003)

Tie colour: Ties

Xandra, Hokuto tying Subaru's tie does not really count because she's not a guy. Besides, the three Clamp all-guy tie-tying scenes (S/K, R/K and Geo/Eagle) have one thing in common that the H/S scene did not -- the act itself was given major spotlight. If it had been played out on screen it would probably be in slow-mo, soft-focus with romantic music, roses in the background and sparklies all over the screen.

Anyhow, I know Geo/Eagle isn't a couple, but there's no denying that Geo has special feelings for Eagle even if those feelings were not returned. Since Geo was the one doing the tying, go figure. *wink*

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 10:05 a.m.(Thursday, January 9, 2003)

Tie colour: FOTR hidden goodies

Perhaps I'm the last person on earth who's aware of this, but apparently there are hidden goodies in each of the first two discs of the extended DVD set for the Fellowship of the Ring which you'll need to "unlock". Disc 1 contains the MTV spoof of the Council of Elrond, while Disc 2 features the trailer for The Two Towers that was supposedly shown at the end of FOTR in the theatres.

About the latter, there were quite a few shots/dialogues not included in the actual movie. I assume they'll form the extra scenes for the TTT extended DVD.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 09:19 p.m.(Wednesday, January 8, 2003)

Tie colour: Merentha

Yay! Another convert to the evil goodness that is Gerald Tarrant. He'll easily have Lestat and Seishirou for breakfast and second breakfast, and Fuuma for elevenses if he so chooses. *grin*

I would certainly love to do a layout with him, but the lack of any good scans (there are only like two good illustrations of him -- BSR and COS) makes this rather difficult. Plus I don't know what's Michael Whelan's attitude towards fan use of his works. Unless you're talking about fanart, but I can't draw.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 05:15 p.m.(Wednesday, January 8, 2003)

Tie colour: Lawful Drug

The scan for this layout was taken from one of the colour spreads in the February 2003 Asuka. Either Clamp is messing with our brains again, or there's a (not very well) hidden agenda to all the tie-tying goodness. Take your pick.

-- Kazahaya's tie was fixed at 10:34 p.m.(Monday, January 6, 2003)