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So she sayeth...
Monday, May 13, 2002 11:52 p.m.
Nostalgia blog design? hah! >:D I'm in constant nostaligia. Just look at this crappy thing.
Anyhoo, sorry about not updating this with a real entry in like, forever, but hey, it's senior year. I've got three senior projects to finish. I'm apparently stressed out too. My doctor says I have internalized stress, which is why I'm exhibiting all these strange symptoms: eye pain, chest pain, neck pain, tight back muscles, tingly feet, etc. >_> So, I guess I shouldn't doubt it. Anyway, this entry is simply me excusing myself from writing a real entry. Finals aren't for another two weeks (yeah, I know. all I ask for is your pity.), but I don't have them this year. I have everything due earlier. One BIG thing is on Saturday, so I need to get finished with that by Friday.
Had surpisingly relaxing weekend at home despite additional relatives and basic family. Perhaps not doing a single bit of homework until Sunday helped. ^_^ Ok, I read my introductions for workshop tonight...but that's just reading. Anyway, there's a Too Much Stuff going on this weekend, including my honors oral defense. Yippee. The wide world of gendered speech in Japanese and my opinions on the matter will be laid bare for examination by firing squad, that is, questions fired off at me by my committee. I also have to finish editing the paper, because it ended up not being done... o.o; Reason for stress? Psh. Naw.
Anyhoo. I'm approaching a zombie state, so I should bugger off. Hopefully more posting after this week.
Thought OTD: --Forthcoming-- (I forget what I said...XP)
Sunday, May 5, 2002 10:28 a.m.
*_* Saw Spiderman, loved it. Could they have chosen a better cast? Nope! I *told* people Sam Raimi would come through. But did they believe me...? Nooooo! Uh, more on it later I guess. I just popped in to share the love of this article about female comic-readers.
Thursday, April 25, 2002 03:24 p.m.
Maybe I'm just a stupid "grrl" who lacks "skillz," but when the heck did "comix" become an acceptable, mainstream word? O_o;
Wednesday, April 24, 2002 11:54 p.m.
Don't think I don't see you. XP
"Mmm. Bagelly goodness. It's kind of like the hole in your code, dear."
"-_- *bristle*"
"Hoo! ^,^"
This bit of madness has been brought to you by the letter: Bagel. Melts butter oh so smooth.
End.
Wednesday, April 24, 2002 03:20 p.m.
Long time no blog. Eh. It's been a bumpyish ride over the past week, although I got to slack off a lot doing light work--editing rather than writing. ^_^; Anyhoo, I've got stuff to blather about today. Opinions abound in this entry, so beware.
Anyway, per my introduction writing for portfolio where I have to discuss my influences and such as a writer, I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes something a classic, a work of art or "literature." I mean, I think we all know what makes a book or a movie or whatever "great" as far as its artistic merits. No one's going to argue the greatness of Homer, Woolf, Spencer, and all those other folks--although some would argue their readablity and entertainment value. But what about things that could fall on a line like, say, fantasy novels. Lots of good work, crap, and stuff in between in that genre, but how can you tell if the well-written fantasy works by Tolkein, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, etc. write are "classic" or "literature" rather than just [good] books? Can fantasy novels be "literature?" And I mean "literature" in the slightly snobbish sense. I guess they can, but I feel as if I've been taught to believe otherwise. I mean, they have "childish" things in them like elves and hobbits and magic. Fairy tale stuff. Bedtime story stuff. Stuff we supposedly should graduate from and move on to novels that matter like Pride and Prejudice and To The Lighthouse. Ok, that's only a slightly snide comment (I loved To the Lighthouse, but Jane Austen is not my cup of tea), because there's a lot of pertenant and important stuff related to "reality" like society, etc. etc, in literature, and we should all read this literature! *gets off English major soapbox* Yet are there important things such as society in fantasy? Well sure! Just sit yourself down in front of a Wheel of Time fan and they'll tell you. ^_^; *is marrying one* This is even applicable to anime and some video games. I mean, can you seriously say with a straight face that EVA, Utena, Escaflowne, Xenogears, etc. are all just fantasy, just cartoons or video games? Hell no. At least I can't. So I guess this is all back to the what makes art "art" rant ^^ only for literature.
Anyway, this was sparked again for me today because of course, I remembered Karen's rant about that some time back around the time of the Oscars. I also read this article today which I think fits in along with some of the points made in that rant exchange. I was not pleased with this article because it came off sounding as if MTV watchers and Movie Award voters are knuckle-dragging idiots who wouldn't know quality if it fell in their lap and grinned at them. O_o; I mean, I haven't seen most of the movies they listed as being nominated, but really, just because these movies were popular with the crowds and didn't make it to the Oscars doesn't make them "bad movies" or something we should be thumbing our noses at. That's like saying To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf should have a thumbed nose in its direction because it never won a Nobel prize for literature or some other such lit. award. (Yeah, I know it's also saying the same thing about, oh say, the Xanth novels.) The author didn't have to mock the categories either. I mean, it's fun to vote on Best Kiss or Best Fight Scene in a movie. People talk about that stuff all the time. I mean, won't some of the first things out of people's mouths when they leave an action movie is "Weren't [those fight scenes] SO cool?! :D Cooler than [this other action movie]." "No way, dude! They were even better than [this movie]." You know. So why must this dorky journalist rain on the parade of amused Movie Award voters, watchers, and participants. As I recall, that's the whole point of the show: to honor the movies the public (well, at least those who watch MTV) liked, but the critics necessarily didn't. Many people I know (me too) adored the Matrix, but did it get an Oscar? Noooo. (Well, it won at least one technical award, I believe.) Did it get an MTV Movie Award? You bet it did. I mean, it was a fun movie with a neat story, cool characters, and wonderful visual effects, but was it worthy of an Oscar? Well, I guess not in the non-technical sense, but that still doesn't make it a movie we should snobbily scoff at. By the way, if you go to mtv.com you can vote for Orlando Bloom for Best Male Breakthrough Performace. ^^
I guess it all goes back to popularity over art. Although, many of the MTV nominees desire to win those categories--I don't think the Gandalf and Saruman fight in LoTR deserves to win Best Fight though. O_o; it wasn't a really fight...Saruman was just whupping Gandalf left and right... Anyway. For the MTV awards I guess it's popularity AND enjoyment combined with some other elements thrown in there too. I mean, if you look, a lot of the movies that won awards at the Oscars won MTV awards, and vice versa if you want to view it that way. So, it's not just popularity. There's a judgment of quality one way or another.
Eh. Moving onto my other bit of rant, I'd just like to state something. Ok, it's a very angry rant... I swear, the next person who says the phrase "Christian mythology" in my presence is going to get an earfull. ¬_¬ I swear, people, I don't care what you believe in, but you have to understand that there are people out there (MANY people) who are Christian and believe in this so-called "mythology." I'm not pointing fingers at any one person--er, not at any one or group of my readers anyway. But I'm seriously offended by the baggage that the word "mythology" brings to this phrase. Honestly, would you ever EVER hear the phrase "Jewish mythology" or "Muslim mythology" or "Wiccan mythology?" Of course not! It would be very rude, condenscending, and not to mention non-PC to do so, and the PC Police and every liberal and conservative out there would consume anyone who would do so with a ferocious counterattack. If I myself ever heard anyone saying such things (especially right in front of a Jew, Muslim, or Wiccan) I would be overwhelmed by a desire to smack said person in the face. It's rude to so flagrantly say to a person, "Your religion is nothing but a myth." But it's apparently it's fine and dandy to say that about Christianity. Well, to that I give a hearty "fuck you and your hypocrisy" because I'm quite certain that these people would not say the same thing about other, currently practiced major religions. If you want to qualify that you don't believe in Christianity and think its false, fine. Go right ahead, I won't be angry and try and stop you. Sometimes people just don't believe the same as we do, and we all have to live with that. I know I can. But I just wish people would make sure to say something non-condenscending like "Christian doctrine/tradition" or "according to the Christian Bible." I don't care what you say as long as it's not rude and disrespectful to the beliefs of others. There are Christians who are over the top and annoying about their beliefs, but come on, they have feelings too. ^_^
Hoo, that was an angry rant if I ever saw one. I feel better though. ^^ Hope I didn't offend anyone either. My whole point was about not doing that very thing. Eheh. Anyway, I've blogged your eyes off by now, so that's all. Maybe tomorrow I can rant about my oral defense. -_-
Random Thought OTD: "Wednesday. Wheeeee!" -- my roommate
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 10:49 p.m.
Whoa, so many people going to Colorado next year. Where's your mom going to be living? Where you were over spring break? Hmm. I was kidding about the NDK thing (although I'm planning on going), but I guess that could come true now. ^_^;
Well, dammit. Yesterday was a draining day. Today too. I had my 4 hour class last night which magically transformed itself into a 5 1/2 hour class. @_@ For some reason we talked about the reading *and* workshopped everyone's stuff. We were boxed in to doing all the material in this one class too because next week we're doing small group conferences. Mou. So I got home around 1 a.m. last night from class, hopped right into bed. And then something else magical happened. It became Flunk Day. @_____@ Again, if you haven't read my blog around April and May of last year, Flunk Day is as it sounds. It's a day that no one (ha ha) knows about beforehand on which classes are cancelled and students run around all day having fun, partying, or both. Or other stuff. Our prof had mentioned the fact that she thought it might be today or tomorrow, but all of us thought that it was too early and it just couldn't be Flunk Day. Yet at 6 a.m. sharp the wake up calls sounded and I crawled from my bed head aching and nauseous from the lack of sleep. I always feel sick waking up around dawn or earlier. Yet I spent the rest of the day hopping about from thing to thing--the sick feeling went away after about an hour or two. There were record high temperatures today that made it all the more Fun. It certainly helped make the strawberry snowcone I ate taste all the more yummy. :D I got a little tan too, but I also avoided burning. Go me!
So yeah. There was food. Matt and I did American Gladiators-esque jousting. I did not like it. What's to like about standing on something unsteady and whacking your loved ones/friends in the head (I mean that literally) with a big, padded stick? We watched people kareoke, squished a purple water balloon, eyed the muddy people, drank something that was supposed to be strawberry flavored, but wasn't (imagine whip cream, red food coloring, and rum with a drop of strawberry flavor), and I even got a mini-nap. It was...well, my last one. Not many were pleased by the fact that it was so early this year. We just started the term like three or so weeks ago. We've got so many left. o_o; Oh well. It was fun, and no more Flunk Day scares this year either. (Flunk Day scare = fake wake up calls done by annoying senior-types--ok, that's us this year O:]--who have a cruel sense of humor.)
So I'm a bit tired. I watched this interesting show on the travel channel tonight about foreigners working as hostesses in clubs in Japan. It was quite interesting. They were making all sorts of parallels to the hostesses and geisha--which are still in existance although they're fading out. They even had some foreign guy on talking about how he was a geisha customer and how great it was and how much he spent in a night, etc. It's amazing how much money a man will spend on the company of one woman and her conversation (and ego stroking it seems) for just an evening. That means both geisha and hostess. One hostess said that she could make up to $40,000 (Canadian) in one night. O_o; It was really interesting, but discomforting in a way too. I mean, men paying women to keep them company? How creepy does that feel to you? Don't even think "sex" with that either. Most of the hostesses said that actual sex is not involved but sometimes it's requested. What would one say to a woman paying a guy to keep her company? They said that there *were* some clubs that had men catering to women. (!) Beauty Man Garden? ^^ But really, I don't like the idea of people buying people for their pleasure, no matter what for. I guess I'm naive, but I just prefer the idea of keeping company with people who I know and are friendly with rather than people I can only make small talk with since we can't have a relationship deeper than a fiscal one. I really enjoyed the special. I got to see much film of Japan again in living color. Of course, they showed Gion, and I pointed and said "Hey, I went there!" ^^ Ah, I miss Kyoto.
Random Thought OTD: "Mowing the grass = murder" -- a sidewalk chalking
Sunday, April 14, 2002 11:16 p.m.
Well, it's official. I accepted Colorado on Friday after much crying and being upset at Iowa for their lack of contacting me. I tried to contact them that day, but every time I did, the woman in the office in charge of taking questions about applications was away from her desk. I wasn't about to leave a message since I needed the information pretty much, well, two weeks ago would have been nice. Anyway. Then at 1 a.m. came home and lo and behold in my inbox was a nice rejection letter in my inbox from Iowa (sent around 6 p.m.). They, uh, suggested I try the religion department or the history department... O_o; As if I had ever feigned an interest in either of those subjects *anywhere* on my application in either of those two subjects. Do the multiple East Asian history classes on my transcript lead people to assume I give a wink about history? I do care about Japanese history--I'm quite interested, however, only now in the sense that it relates to culture, language, and literature. I've gone through the history four times now in two history courses and the same art history course twice. o_o History for history's sake doesn't appeal to me. I took those classes because I knew nothing about Japan and had no other choice but to take those classes to learn anything. Bah! Where'd they come up with religion anyway? o_O; I've *never* had any direct exposure to any Asian religion outside of those two chapters on Shinto and Buddhism in the world religions course I took in high school. We of course touch on those two subjects in every Japan related class I've taken except for language. I'm just a touch confused... Although I think my poor self esteem is going to consume me for the fact that all of my schools rejected me sans one. It just makes me wonder why they did...and if they made a mistake in doing so since the other schools obviously didn't feel I was good enough for them.
Well, the skinny--as it were--on that is that I get money from the department in the form of a stipend and a TA-ship teaching either language or civilizations (Yeah, I still am not sure yet. Maybe I should ask...) I must establish my residency in Colorado too. That means a new driver's license, the works. My mind boggles at all I may have to do with this. But it will be GOOD. It will be FUN. Yes, it WILL. I'm probably also going to be a tad behind in the program going in since I haven't taken fourth year yet. Not that this isn't against my will. Mou. They're also on a different set of books than I had in 1st and 2nd year, so I'm going through them (I reviewed them for as a part of my honors project...ohohoh...^_^; oops.) picking out all the vocabulary I never learned. I think I've got all the grammar stuff covered, but it will be a nice review. I've actually found quite a few vocab words though. Thank YOU, IMJ. As much as I didn't approve of Yookoso!'s approach to teaching gender differences, I really like their book otherwise. I wish I had used this one as a first year student. Or Nakama although I haven't really looked at that one too much.
So what else does this mean? It means no AnimeIowa for me this year. ;_; (I'm 99% sure I'm not going to ACen this year either--for other reasons of course--unless some small miracle occurs.) Which makes me sad because I've gone to AI every year since it's been in existance. Well, technically I *could* go, but since I need to be living in Boulder no later than Aug. 15, I shouldn't be coming back the very next weekend. I don't think I could afford the time or money. So! This means you all need to branch out and come visit me at Nan Desu Kan, Dever's very own anime convention! ^_~ Come on...it's Colorado...anime...they have doujinshi! Check out their homepage if you don't believe me. Anyway, I'm happy to be going to Colorado for less shallow reasons than how beautiful it is, skiing, a new con, and what not. They have some mad literature courses there too and they also offer some teaching Asian language methods courses. Ok, I *have* to take a methods course if I'm going to be a TA, so, yeah. I'm excited, you could say. :]
In other news, Matt and I tried doing invitations this weekend. We sorta failed. It's harder than I thought. We have to write in straight lines and what not. Damn I hate being formal too. In Japanese it's not hard, but referring to my family and such by their full names plus titles is just plain odd. Maybe I'm just so much more paranoid about offending people with my Japanese than I am here in English. ^_^; Nah, I often speak something like Japanized English when I want to be polite and all "Well, maybe, but I'm not sure if it would work that way..." when I'm thinking soemthing like "You dumbass, of COURSE it's not right. You suck!" Ok, maybe not as harsh, but you know what I mean. :P Friday we also went to see The Hypnotist tonight with folks. He doesn't have a name here--he's that famous. He came last year and was a big hit, so we went back again to enjoy the poor helpless saps who agree to get themselves hypnotized and do silly things. Nyaha. It was amusing, but not as good as last year. He repeated a lot of the stuff he did before. I think the participants were somewhat less active too. ^^; We also saw the Street Fighter live action movie. It was the first time for both of us. Let me just say "O_o;" Ken and Ryu should sue for character defamation. Petty theives and smugglers indeed! And their fight scenes sucked. Everyone but Chun Li's fight and somewhat the fight between M. Bison and Guile at the end had sucky fights. There were TOO MANY GUNS in that movie. Movie Ken couldn't shoryuken his way out of a paper bag. How could they make Guile the main character? That makes no sense...even if they did get Jean Claude Van Damme to play the part. It was a pretty poor movie, but it was cheesy in a good way I guess. Zangrief made me chortle. XD His was an amusing part. I would recommend this movie only to fans who wish to be amused by its badness.
Also this week I finished (finally! O_o) the draft of my honors paper. It's long...I'm so embarassed. But I did look at a lot--4 textbooks, 6 manga, 34 (+3) surveys, and 1 anime plus research on somewhat related areas. I didn't find a lot on my particular subject--not too many people have examined the relationship of Japanese media, textbooks/classroom learning, and learning gender differences in Japanese. ^^; So I had to find a lot of related information which resulted in plenty of irrelevant information later. Of course, some of what I ordered through interlibrary loan actually came up with good information for me even though the title indicated the article was only partially relevant. I suppose I'll post something about it if I feel anyone might be interested. Maybe some of my readers...all...how many? ^^;
Anyway! I've been writing long enough. And now for your literature lesson for the day. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare editted for today's l33t-sp34king net crawler. Enjoy!
So amusing.
Random Thought OTD: "I'm going to kick M. Bison's ass so hard, that the next M. Bison wannabe is going to feel it!" -- Guile, SF the Movie
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