Ashurum time is 07:01 p.m.(Sunday, December 16, 2001)

My sites have a new home now. All hail Tsuriai.net, the Dreams of Sakura Web Central.

Some of the links are probably still dodgy since I basically shifted my other sites to one umbrella. Do let me know if they don't work. I'm slowly weeding through them. Anyway, all future Asuka updates for the X instalments will be on Tsuriai.net, so please don't come crying to me about Geocities' bandwidth problem. Thanks.

Ashurum time is 12:14 a.m.(Sunday, December 16, 2001)

While going through some possible names for my domain on the .net hierarchy, I decided to play around with the 14 characters from X. The following names were still available: sorata.net, seiichirou.net (aoki.net has been taken) and, surprisingly, fuuma.net. Given that even kotori.net has been taken, no wonder Fuuma hates the world. Seems that nobody likes him either.

In the meantime, I'm having too much fun with Yahoo Messenger's new IMvironments. Scissors-paper-stone "Street Fighter"-style. Cool. Lika, we'll continue our battle after your exams. And then, there's the eyeball and the cool villainous monocle. *worships the Eye*

Ashurum time is 01:25 p.m.(Thursday, December 13, 2001)

Sorry, W2, if I gave the impression that Tarrant/Vryce was anything like Seishirou/Kusanagi. What I meant was that Tarrant was my model for Seishirou in my fics. Truth is, Seishirou, as he appears in X, is totally devoid of any personality, which makes him that much harder to write. Futhermore, I do not subscribe to the popular image of him being a "black-clad sex machine out to ravish Subaru's pretty ass". So I took a leaf off Tarrant, who is all sensual without being sexual. But no, they are not alike in most ways. Anyway, whenever I imagine Tarrant's voice, I think of either Julian Sands or Ralph Fiennes. *faints*

As for Vryce/Kusanagi, I was merely referring to their similar physical attributes (muscles and all) for the benefit of X fans who have never read CT. On the other hand, both of them seem like nice sensitive guys.

In other news, I've gotten my own domain and found a new host, which should alleviate the problems associated with Geocities. I should have most things up before the next Asuka update (more than a month away). Will post the addy once it is ready.

Ashurum time is 10:30 p.m.(Wednesday, December 12, 2001)

Maria, hope you're getting better. Pneumonia is a nasty little thing. *pushes Kusanagi towards Maria* I'll let the big guy take good care of you. Erm, I kidna...borrowed him from Sat-chan.

Ashurum time is 01:05 p.m.(Wednesday, December 12, 2001)

Coldfire Trilogy is not "boysy". If it were a manga (which would be a cool thing indeed), it'll probably be classified under "dark shoujo fantasy".

Ashurum time is 09:44 a.m.(Tuesday, December 11, 2001)

Ooooh....somebody else read Coldfire Trilogy. I've read all of Ms. Friedman's books. She's fantastic. But CT is definitely my fave. Yeah, Gerald Tarrant is the most delicious anti-protagonist. Intelligent, analytical, amoral, ruthless, and oh-so seductive. He's the model for the Sei-chans is my fics, though I think Tarrant is the greater, and better, evil of the two. He'll have both Seishirou and Tree-san for breakfast. By the way, a pal of mine suggested that there was strong shades of yaoi attraction between Tarrant and Damien Vryce. I have to agree with her, though I tend to picture the delicate Tarrant as the seme over Kusanagi-like Vryce's uke. Tarrant won't let himself be dictated by anyone else, the control freak.

Ashurum time is 11:01 a.m.(Monday, December 10, 2001)

Did a little darkfic titled Inversion for the X-The Others mailing list. Fans of his greatness, the Octopus Tie owner, please don't kill me.

Ashurum time is 10:27 p.m.(Sunday, December 9, 2001)

Thanks Ralf-san for the Kamui fanart. It's a lovely and wonderful gift to receive on my birthday. I have already updated it along with some other details to the shrine.

Ashurum time is 10:02 p.m.(Wednesday, December 5, 2001)

I'm really slow but I just realised that I share my birthday with more than just World Aids Day and a manga character. I knew I like the new little Japanese Princess for a reason. I wish her well.

Yesterday, I finally unwrapped my copy of This Alien Shore by C.S Friedman that I had bought about a year ago but never got around to reading it. In fact, I have a shelf of books (not manga) that I haven't read yet. Bad me.

Ashurum time is 01:21 p.m.(Tuesday, December 4, 2001)

Thanks for the delicious "Okonomiyaki" fic, dear. It was a wonderful birthday present. And your blog looks really cool. Also thanks to everyone else who sent me birthday greetings. There were no naked bishies, but I had lots of sweet sinful iced coffee in various calorie-loaded incarnations. No thanks to my best friend who insisted on just hanging around Orchard Road coffee places reading manga.

Darn, I was supposed to do something with Yuuki, but got sidetracked.

My JLPT4 exams will commence in less than 10 hours' time. When I said that my Japanese was half-baked, it is half-baked. But I should ace this comfortably. Anyway, sleep beckons.

Ashurum time is 12:05 a.m.(Sunday, December 2, 2001)

The design of the original Battle Chess (circa late 1980s) was actually quite pretty in that it adhered to the medieval look of the original chess pieces. Naturally it suffered somewhat in resolution since video graphics weren't that advance yet. The new one look horrible, I have to agree. Chinese chess has slightly more restrictions than Western chess, but no less intriguing. Difficult to explain all the rules here.

Ashurum time is 09:46 p.m.(Thursday, November 29, 2001)

Satsuki-chan, they do have wizard's chess for computers. It's called Battle Chess, and the game is available for both Western and Chinese chess. In an older Chinese chess version, I recalled a dragon turning into a can of dogfood when blasted by a nasty canon. That was cool.

Ashurum time is 12:33 p.m.(Thursday, November 29, 2001)

Darling, are you all right? You're scaring me.

Ashurum time is 10:59 p.m.(Wednesday, November 28, 2001)

Just saw the Harry Potter movie. Had to find out what's all the hype. Yes, Lika, I really think it is a fandom thing. Those who read the books will probably enjoy it more, being now given the chance to see the transformations "live". Besides, I heard it kept quite faithfully to the book. There was this guy seated in front of me who obviously read the book and was laughing hard before the jokes even appeared onscreen. Nevertheless, for people who never touched the book, such as I, the movie was draggy. A long series of magical fan-service before returning to the plot at the final 15 minutes or so.

The preview trailers for The Lord of the Rings looked cool though.

Ashurum time is 12:03 a.m.(Wednesday, November 28, 2001)

Blame it on the eyeball, but I have finally written my first Subaru/Kamui(who else did you expect?) Yaoi fic, The Eye. *chokes on said eyeball*

Ashurum time is 09:54 p.m.(Sunday, November 25, 2001)

Getting your best friend interested in anime/manga isn't necessarily a good thing, especially when said best friend is also of the adventurous type, i.e., buys stuff off the shelf without any basis other than that the cover looks cool. After borrowing her Yakumo Tatsu OVA, I have to read the books. Wonder if I can convince her to get the manga. Need to convince her to continue with Jinjuu Horetsu Den as well. If not, my own collection can probably spark off a small rental business.

Meanwhile, after finishing off the rest of Nazca, I discovered that I suffer seriously from what I term the Subaru Syndrome. Sufferers of said malady adores Subaru (or any other male depressing character) simply because he's a guy (and gay at that). If it had been a female character, or even a straight male, the fangirls would have called for her/his blood, for no better reason than to see the story move along without her/him.

What has this got to do with Nazca? Well, the leading lady, Yuka (no relation to Aoki's daughter), is the fiancee of Tate, the chief bad guy. When she realises that Tate was bent on destroying humanity for his own twisted ideals, she became torn between helping the good guys, led by Kyouji, and running off into the arms of Tate. Instead, she chose to look tormented and sad while doing nothing for most of the story, even though she possesses great powers herself. Also, Kyouji has a serious crush on her, which she doesn't actually reject. Initially, I felt like strangling her, hoping that the series would get rid of a useless female lead a la X, until I suddenly realised that she was acting exactly as Subaru would have done. I shut up after that.

Ashurum time is 10:50 p.m.(Saturday, November 24, 2001)

January 2002 Asuka updates for X are available at both my X shrine and the update mirror site here! CLAMP will be taking a break next month, so don't expect anything new till the March 2002 issue (to be released around 24 January 2002).

Ashurum time is 10:38 p.m.(Friday, November 23, 2001)

I was watching Nazca last evening, and even though I've only seen the X OVA but not the series so far, when Kyouji spoke, I could only go, "Kamui!" And true enough, there on the seiyuu cast list was Suzumura Ken'ichi listed right next to Kyouji's name. That voice is so Kamui. I disagree about the male hormones. Why would anyone want him to sound like a girl? BTW, Koyasu Takehito was in Nazca too (as the "best friend/beloved mentor turn chief baddie whom hero cannot bring himself to kill"), together with Ueda Yuuji. And the plot about destroying humans to regenerate the earth is strongly reminiscent of X (and many other anime/manga).

You are evil. You clearly knew what chibi-Kamui does to me. *takes cold shower* Anyway, I haven't got the Newtype yet, though I might get Newtype.com. There seems to be a huge special on X for the January issue.

Lika dearie, need help?

My birthday is coming soon. Need to plan for a nice Yuuki layout.

Ashurum time is 10:05 a.m.(Friday, November 23, 2001)

Okay, the Kamui and Fuuma side story is finally ready for viewing. You may either go to my X shrine or go here.

Ashurum time is 12:11 a.m.(Tuesday, November 20, 2001)

Some social blogging...

I agree with you about Grisham. The guy can't do drama, period. In Rainmaker, the supposedly underdog protagonist had so many things working for him (help from every possible source, sympathetic jury, a judge who hates his rich, slimy opponents' guts), how else could the story work out? There wasn't even the least bit of tension in the entire book. Urgh!

The only ass that I'll ever kick belongs to Subaru. Just so to see that eyeball pop out and roll into Inuki's path. ("Good doggy. Go fetch!")

Satsuki-chan, I empathise with you on the smoking thing. It's the one thing that I can't get used to in Japan (the packed trains weren't half bad). Sit down in McDonald's (or any other restaurant) and almost every adult around you smokes. There're supposed to be non-smoking sections, but what protection is there when the poison gets circulated through the central air-conditioning? Sometimes, it looked like there was an indoor haze going on.

Ashurum time is 12:40 a.m.(Saturday, November 17, 2001)

I absolutely miss Japan!

So Tokyo Tower was a big disappointment inside ("Kamui! Fuuma! Careful with the swords and try not to hit another souvenir stall!"), but it was gorgeous when lit on the outside. Helps that my hotel actually had a pretty view of the tower from a distance.

In addition, I could only admire Rainbow Bridge in the rain, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building didn't have secretaries walking around in revealing dresses.

But Kyoto was beautiful, I had delicious okonomiyaki in Osaka, got to have fun with an e-pal in Yokohama, and Tokyo wasn't as messy as I thought. Plus I got some lovely X merchandise. Speaking of anime/manga merchandise, they aren't that easy to get hold of in Japan as one might imagine. Even the Kinokuniya was a sore disappointment. But I got three lovely clear folders: Subaru hanging with Sakura branches, Kamui breaking out of the glass Earth, and the Subaru/Seishirou pic from page 96 of X Zero. Also got some shitajiki, like the clear one of Kamui smiling by the sea, and the Fuuma/Kamui linked by handcuffs pic, among others. There's also a cool notebook featuring the back pictures of X12 and X13 on its front and back covers. I'll fire up my scanner once I have my other holiday photos in.

In the meantime, I still haven't gotten around to translating Kamui and Fuuma's side story. For those with access to their drama CD, the story isn't too different from Fuuma's version of how they first met. Rain. Puppy. Umbrella. No great revelation there.

Ashurum time is 12:19 a.m.(Saturday, November 17, 2001)

Just to let everyone know that I'm back at last! Will try to get the updates for the Kamui & Fuuma side-story up soon.

Ashurum time is 12:52 p.m.(Friday, November 16, 2001)

Audrey-chan, omedetou! Hope you have a wonderful year ahead. How about nominating this day as Sei-chan's birthday too? He'll be a Scorpio and he gets to share it with one of his most diehard fans.

Ashurum time is 01:27 p.m.(Monday, November 5, 2001)

The TB/X section of the Clamp Fanfic Reader's Choice Award is on! My fics are here. You know what to do. *winks*

To all my pals, I'll be away for almost two weeks from the 6th to the 15th hunting down kekkais and raiding manga stores in Tokyo. Unless I can find the time to hang around some inexpensive internet cafe (if such a beast exists in "totemo takai" Tokyo), you won't be hearing from me till mid-month.

Ashurum time is 12:58 p.m.(Sunday, November 4, 2001)

I don't know about Seishirou's, but today is definitely Eiji-sama's birthday! *bows to his utter coolness*

Ashurum time is 01:42 p.m.(Wednesday, October 31, 2001)

More gross eyeball imagery. Anybody else saw or heard of a Japanese movie called Tampopo, specifically the egg-yolk scene. How about an S/K lemon where Subaru and Kamui exchange...the eyeball? >_<

Ashurum time is 10:13 a.m.(Monday, October 29, 2001)

The mirror page for the Asuka December updates is now here.

In the meantime, I'll go drown myself in more of the Spriggan soundtrack.

Ashurum time is 07:05 a.m.(Monday, October 29, 2001)

*waves back to Kouri* I don't like to force people to write S/K fics, though it would be nice to see more of them. ^_^ Erm, regarding Subaru's options, he does have one more. As in, drink the eyeball and then get laid with Kamui. The best of both worlds.

*waves back to Murasaki* I like to keep my "enemies" closer. Anyway, Taryn is as rabid pro-S/S, anti-S/K as they get, and she's on my list.

I think you've got the whole idea. Maybe X was meant to be funny. Just that we fans have been taking it way too seriously. Add in that infamous octupus tie from the anime, how can anybody sit through this story with a straight face? I'm betting on Akira having a perfect recipe for "frozen eyeball in jelly mousse" next month. Or that Fuuma loves decapitation because he's really in the underground business of human body parts for sale.

Ashurum time is 10:45 p.m.(Sunday, October 28, 2001)

Added Kouri and Murasaki to my blog list. Hi!

Ashurum time is 04:37 p.m.(Friday, October 26, 2001)

I've added a link to my message board on the left, under Moderator. I know that my Geocities connection has been rather screwy recently, but that shouldn't stop us for having crazy discussions on the board entirely.

Ashurum time is 09:21 a.m.(Friday, October 26, 2001)

Talking about the latest Asuka. I have this mental image of Subaru walking around and covering his right eye socket with his hand because Seishirou's eye kept popping out and rolling onto the ground. And then it accidentally pops out again as he's talking to Kamui in the Imonoyama gardens, and Kamui has to help him search for the eyeball (like hunting for a lost contact lens). Then genki Keiichi pops by to join in the search and squishes the eyeball accidentally. Oopsie.

Hey, CLAMP are sick. I wouldn't put it past them. We need more tasteless eyeball jokes.

Sorry about that, Kira. I've changed it.

Ashurum time is 03:03 p.m.(Thursday, October 25, 2001)

Added Kira to my blog list. Incidentally, "Kira" is also the name of my cat. >_<

Ashurum time is 07:19 a.m.(Thursday, October 25, 2001)

Another E'S layout! *squeals* Your otouto is cute, but I think Yuuki is more of the Sorata in the story. With Kai being Subaru-Kamui, Eiji has to be Seishirou-Fuuma.

Ashurum time is 12:50 a.m.(Thursday, October 25, 2001)

Asuka December updates are in. And boy, does CLAMP have a sick Halloween joke for us. *gross out*

Ashurum time is 12:44 a.m.(Thursday, October 25, 2001)

Today is the first anniversary of Seishirou's passing. Seems like only yesterday. My Asuka will probably arrive tomorrow.

Ashurum time is 09:03 a.m.(Wednesday, October 24, 2001)

My poor darling. Don't think too much about the lost fic and concentrate on your midterms please. I know how fic muses *kicks Kakyou* love to pop up on the days just before a critical assignment or test is due, distracting me from the tasks at hand. Your lovely story will return to inspire you again, and this time you'll have plenty of time to work on it. *hugs*

Ashurum time is 06:57 a.m.(Tuesday, October 23, 2001)

Housekeeping news: Added Kerianne, Meimi and Maria to my blog list.

Ashurum time is 02:59 p.m.(Sunday, October 21, 2001)

Here's a cool new E'S site in English.

Ashurum time is 02:25 p.m.(Sunday, October 21, 2001)

Guy Gavriel Kay...that does bring back fond pre-manga memories. The Lions of Al-Rassan was my first and favourite Kay book. Who could possibly resist the charms of ibn Khairan?

Thanks Ammie. E'S is cool. Powerful espers with the ability to teleport, disappear, walk through walls, and level half a city through sheer willpower, no earthquakes necessary. A cyborg assassin a la Terminator. Sinister political, business and religious organisations plotting and counterplotting in the background. Bishie heroes with brains. Villains with personality. No wimpy dreamgazers wasting pages on another declaration of doom. Lots of cool psychic battles.

The only drawback is the lack of shounen-ai, but there's plenty of slash opportunity. Kai appeared in a dress once for a mission and Yuuki noticed that he was really pretty. *hearts* Eiji seems to have a great interest in the boy too. Yuiga-sensei did a little omake where Eiji made tea for Kai and told Kai that he (Eiji) likes him (Kai) a lot, complete with roses in the background. *screams* Also, there's a subordinate of Maxim's (he's the other villain, but he harbours some grudge against Eiji) who has adopted Nakuru's (of Card Captor Sakura) dress code. ^_^;;

Being in a more shounen-style magazine probably limits how far Yuiga-sensei can go. But as a co-serialised series, Saiyuki, has shown, the possibilities are not limited, and the imaginations of fangirls can be just as potent. *grin* Besides, a good story doesn't necessarily require the leading male characters to end up in each other's beds.

Ashurum time is 12:09 a.m.(Sunday, October 21, 2001)

Oh yeah, I finally picked up my first copy of "G Fantasy" yesterday evening and got to see Sanzo and gang beat the living daylights out of the "Kami-sama" character in Saiyuki. As for E'S, my worst fear has been realised. I am not ready to translate it yet. Too many dialogues, plus the story is way ahead of where I'm currently aware, i.e. volume 4 of the Chinese translation. Kai and Yuuki looked cute fighting together though. One thing I noticed, Enix certainly has some cool titles under its wings.

Ashurum time is 02:00 a.m.(Saturday, October 20, 2001)

Another layout change and simpler than the last. But Eiji and Kai are pretty enough as they are. And no, they're not from any obscure CLAMP work. Yuiga-sensei is a genius, and I highly recommend E'S if you're looking for a grittier version of X.

Ashurum time is 01:45 a.m.(Saturday, October 20, 2001)