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Website: lunatic parade For the love of Bob, sign the guestbook! Hangs around: !SuperCat Online, Passion Fruit, Crimson Tears, The Japanese Flannel, Bleeding Hearts, windward, Technomancy, HTH, Diagon Alley, Shiroi Heya Posted elsewhere: Fanfiction.net, Photo.net Follows: Jamie, Melanie, Diana, Haru, N, Andre, Jun, Lex, Covielle, Twig, Bridget, Lisa, Shell, Sabina Reads: Nine Stitches, megatokyo, Bite Me!, Boy Meets Boy
Books waiting to be finished: Yellow, Norwiegian Wood, When We Were Orphans, Equal Rites, The Girl With the Pearl Earring, The Vampire Lestat, A Fine and Private Place Listens to: Dreams Come True, Ryuichi Kawamura, Hikaru Utada, Natalie Imbruglia, Gackt, Sarah Brightman, GLAY, Enya, The Goo Goo Dolls, Jimmy Buffett, Travis, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Garbage, John Mellencamp, REM, Melissa Etheridge, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Kiss Me Kate, 1776, Miss Saigon, Les Mizerables
Archives:
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...Dammit CLAMP, can't we have just a teensy bit of Evil Subaru? Pleeeeeze?
Yeah, yeah, I'm a sick freak. I was actually looking forward to Subaru ripping into something or someone in the near future. My reasons for loving X are disturbingly shallow: Gorgeous art, gratuitous bloody violence and loads of potential for Humor Most Foul and Morbid-- not necessarily in that order. (I suppose this accounts for why I enjoy Gouhou Drug, too.)
I am TIRED. Dog-tired, run-over-by-Mack-truck tired, beaten into the ground and jumped on tired. But I saw Goldmember last night, and damned if we didn't laugh through the whole thing. I was so glad it was funny-- the last one was so very very NOT. As an aside, Ozzy cracks me up. As a further aside...
"AAAAAAAH! IS GOJIRA!!!" *cackles*
I can't decide what the next blog-art will be... I wanna do something GLAY- or Natalie-related, but then I also have ideas for Elise and then there's all this great Toriyama art and Araizumi Slayers-stuff I've got... eek. Maybe I'll do Slayers; that should be easy to make a summery/back-to-schoolish thing from.
_______________________________________________________ Listening to: Do As Infinity, Boukensha-tachi
Steph, you evil little monkey you. Yes, I need to update this thing... I also need to finish cleaning out my hard drive so that I can install OS 9 and make a new layout. (Can you feel my enthusiasm? I bet you can.)
So, hack away. ^_~ (Loved the email-- I expect follow-ups after all this offline-ish time... hehee.)
As for the rest of you... heck, I can't think of anything to say; it's WAY past bedtime and life's been kinda dull here today anyhow. But-- but but but-- MEL'S HOME! *insert giant happy grin here* And I can't wait to see you and give you a giant hug and tell you how gorgeous you look (I'm sure the photo doesn't do you justice!) So. I go now, to sleep. Social time tomorrow night, very exciting. Last hurrah with pocket change, too, since I just converted my entire paycheck into yen today... wheee! _______________________________________________________ Listening to: Darren Hayes, Falling At Your Feet
And it's on my RK-inspired playlist, which is cool, but it just made me think of Sano and Kenshin....
Oops. (Yeah, Steph, OOPS... crap.) _______________________________________________________ Listening to: Natalie Imbruglia, Sunlight
Yikes, I need a new layout soon.
The Saga of the Phone Survey: (Yeah, this just occurred tonight. What an exciting life I lead!)
Survey Guy: "I've got a few questions to ask you about anime and magna --that's no N-spelling, he really said that-- if you don't mind?"
"Okay..."
Survey Guy: "What is your age?"
"Twenty-one."
"Well, I guess I don't need to ask your parents' permission then..."
arches an eyebrow and smirks "...Nope."
"And your marital status?"
"Single."
"Do you have any children?"
"Nope." (He asked some other bland questions, like my race, religion, stuff I didn't have to answer, yadda yadda.)
"Now, how often do you watch television? Every day, several times a week, once a month, never?"
"Several times a week."
"How often do you read comic books or manga?"
"Several times a week."
"How often do you watch cartoons or animated features?"
"Several times a week."
jokingly "Are you sure? Not every day?"
"Yeah, I mean, I don't watch TV every day, so..."
"But then there's movies, DVDs, tapes..."
laughing "No, just several times a week."
"How often do you read American comics?"
being judicious, thinking of ElfQuest "Once a month."
"How often do you use the internet for entertainment purposes?"
grimaces "Every day."
"How often do you play video games?"
grins, thinking of Steph "Never."
incredulous "Are you sure?"
rolling eyes "Yes, I'm positive."
jovially "Wow, and here I was about to ask you to marry me!"
threatening sarcasm "Really."
back to business, thankfully "Now, if you don't mind, I've got some questions about the kind of things you're interested in, your opinions. May I?"
"...Mm, go ahead."
even MORE obviously reading from a sheet "I like movies and books that make me think. Agree or disagree?"
"Agree."
"I enjoy things that are not mainstream." (Paraphrase: He asked me something to the effect of, did I like books, music, etc. that was off the beaten path-- you get the idea)
"Agree."
"I am interested in manga and anime."
"Agree."
"I am interested in Japanese music and pop culture."
trying not to laugh "Agree."
"I would like to learn more about Japanese culture, both traditional and modern."
really, REALLY trying not to laugh "Well, I guess... agree." *snrk*
--And that's the end of the sorta-kinda interesting stuff. I'm guessing they must have gotten my name and number from AnimeNation or YesAsia's customer database, or some other place like Amazon where I've ordered stuff online; he told me he was from North American Research Services, whatever the hell that really is. He really was doing a survey though-- he rattled questions off so fast and monotone that I could tell he was reading from a sheet, and none of the questions were weird or off-sounding. (If he'd really sounded like a flirting fanboy when he made that marriage comment, I'd have said something about it for sure.)
...Hey, I thought it was funny. Hilariously ironic, even. Oh well.
_______________________________________________________ Listening to: Is it you?, Hitomi
Bizarreness for the day: While watching an animated Beatrix Potter story (which was absolutely wonderful, of course... me and children's literature. Eeesh) I noticed during the end credits that it was produced by Fuji TV and Pony Canyon. How crazy is that? ...What I mean is, Pony Canyon produces GLAY, too. Heee.
And there is now a wonderful insane little virtual Stitch wreaking havoc on my computer's desktop. He's so CUTE it ought to be disgusting. (Actually, he is kinda disgusting... slobbering all over my icons like that...)
I wonder what it says about our family that the one movie we all want to go see, at the same time on the same day, is Reign of Fire. Mom says it's just because we all have this thing for dragons... I think it's more a combination of our love for big kick-ass evil dragons, and Drew and Dad's love of brainless destructo-movies.
New ALTC chapter up today! *Cheers* You know it's a good fic when you find yourself rooting for the OCs. Sweet. _______________________________________________________ Quick note: Hop on over and check out what Andre is tossing up on Ebay. Good stuff, good stuff.
It's been rather uneventful around here... work work and more work, and a DVD here and there. I got a letter from one of my classmates at the joshidai yesterday, though, which totally made my week. I can't wait to see her again! ...I've also watched Lilo & Stitch twice in the last six days, and I still get all sniffly and choked up (and then laugh myself blind at the end).
Watched the Rurouni Kenshin movie last night. Drooled over a few of the scenes. Enjoyed the hell outta Saitou, and pointing and laughing at the fact that Koyasu Takehito once again voiced a character who looked like a fruit. Is it some kind of requirement in his contracts? Girly men? o.O; Naraku, Hotohori, Rezo, Aya... and five or six others, but I digress. And isn't Sano supposed to hate trains? But he was cute, like a dog getting to ride in the front seat with the window down. Hee.
Sabina made me giggle. Steph sent me the blurb about Gackt and Hyde's upcoming movie project, but what Sabina said about it just... well. Ahh, Gackt, how we love you... even if you are a giant dork. (Same goes for Hyde, of course.)
The weather here is dismal, and business was so slow that I got to leave work early. So I ought to go and be productive now, before I have to babysit this evening. And go to bed early. Gah. _______________________________________________________ *CACKLE*
Bridget... how'd you find that? Oh my lord. Diana, you are gonna WATCH this, and you're gonna tell me all about it! (or at the very least, send me a Newtype or two.) *SNRK* Omi looks awesome (but very un-Omi-like). The rest of them, though... *rolls over and shrieks with laughter* Poor Yohji. Oh, wow. And Aya still has Gackt's 'Mizerable' hair.
Koyasu Takehito, you are unstoppable. *Shakes head* _______________________________________________________ Listening to: Orgy, Blue Monday
Before I forget-- Lisa, the fic most assuredly is NOT horrible. I'd be more than happy to write an 'insipid fangirl' version for you, so that you may compare. ^_~ Now, go download that Sarah Brightman song. _______________________________________________________ Oh my GOD my brain has melted.
I just watched two-- or was it three? It's all a blur-- episodes of Weiss Kreuz that I'd never seen before. Now, I know the storyline inside out, so the plot (if you can call it that) was not the issue...
HOW is it possible for a single show to have such consistently awful animation?!? I understand a teensy budget, but DAMN. My eyes were offended. *Laughs and retches at the same time* We couldn't stop laughing... Steph would say, 'Can't we just stop the tape in a minute?' and two seconds later we'd both be flat on the floor cackling at Takatori's squishy-face. Or Yohji's. Or... hell, anyone's. But especially Takatori. *giggles* It was so awful, I honestly couldn't stop laughing! The overwhelming CHEESE, oh my. For a brief moment, the thought of drawing terrified me because I was afraid I'd end up producing something looking like that. Guh.
Now I want to find someone who owns the DVDs, just so I can 1) hear it dubbed (there's an even chance the voice-acting is actually BETTER); 2) read subtitles that are mostly grammatically correct (you know it's bad when YOU understand stuff that the subbers obviously didn't); and 3) see the VA interviews with subtitles. That's a whole new kind of disturbing, right there.
I wish I knew exactly why I can't leave this stuff alone. It's so BAD-- and I'm not the kind of person who watches awful stuff just for the sake of making fun of it, not regularly. I get no joy out of that; it just makes me feel like I'm wasting my time. There's this broken record playing in my head: 'It could have been GOOD! It could have been GOOD! The MANGA was good....'
Of course, the manga was also SHORT, and not animated.
Holy crap, I need to scrape this from the surface of my imagination... I'm gonna go watch Metropolis. And some Kenshin. And then I'm gonna go camp out. _______________________________________________________ I should have known... of course Gackt would have to come up with some new, bizarre gimmick for MOON. *grins* So help me, I think it's kinda cool. (Scroll down the page and read the note from the MOON CD insert. Freaky.)
Interesting, though, that all the songs from the last two singles are on the album, rather than having two B-sides that appear nowhere else. Either Gackt just didn't feel like doing the extra tracks, or he's got something up his sleeve.
Either way, now I really can't wait to get my hands on that album! _______________________________________________________ Listening to: Over the Sky (Tenkuu no Escaflowne)
Happy Independence Day! Last July 4th, I was in Durham on my aunt's farm with a LOT of family and friends, having a huge cookout and playing with crates of fireworks. Then the thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms rained out the big show after sundown, and gave us something REALLY spectacular to watch. This year our relatives reported to us that it's supposed to reach 97F over there-- I hope you don't melt in the heat, Andre!
Me, I'm gonna be in a nice air-conditioned movie theater-- Steph and I are going to see the Powerpuff Girls movie. Hee.
Jamie, thanks for the assistance with my emails! I'm such a lazy-ass, not wanting to get up and walk all the way across the hall to get those dictionaries out of my room. I think I need to haul out my textbook and start reading through it again. Wasurechatta yo....
Off to finish cleaning my room. I can almost see the floor! _______________________________________________________ Tanoshii da yo! Tanoshisou!
...Just got my Gravitation fix over at Anti Nostalgic. Sabina's 'Hit Single' is an amazing read-- what freaked me out was that, writing style notwithstanding, it sounded like something I would do. And now I have this incredible urge to download all of 'Decade', too. Nuts. Then again, I oughta just wait a bit and buy it-- I might even be able to find it used in the Ninomiya.
Guess who got herself a plane ticket to Kansai. C'mon, guess. _______________________________________________________ Hotaruhotaruhotaru zenbu ga HOTARU!
The fireflies are so thick it's hard to take a walk around the block without having one fly up my nose. They make the grass glitter and when it's dark the trees flash bright blue sparks. You know those scenes in animated movies (or fantasy movies) where it's all romantic and summer-y, and there are a zillion fireflies swirling around the hero and the love interest? Yeah, that's what it looks like outside.
I love July. _______________________________________________________ Oh my... I think I'm in love.
Please excuse me while I salivate over Alan Rickman. I'm still kicking myself for not stealing the six-foot-tall Snape poster (complete with name in katakana) I saw in the Umeda movie theater. ^_~ YUM.
Haru, I loved your notes on Gravitation! *laughs* Now we just need to hunt down the rest of the manga... I'm almost sorry I didn't have room to buy the other ten volumes. Manga crack, that stuff is. But Yuki amazes me. And now I'm wishing I had access to the rest of the anime; I only saw the first episode raw.
Where's a Ninomiya when you need one? (Or De Hanp, for that matter....) _______________________________________________________ I would like to take a moment to give each and every major online travel service the one-fingered salute. If a fare is not AVAILABLE, you shouldn't $!@%ing POST it. And much good it does to have fifty gazillion different webpages if they ALL USE THE SAME BLOODY CONSOLIDATOR. (Or if they're really the same webpage, under a million different domain names.)
I mean, if the airlines want people to fly, you'd think they'd try to make it less of a horribly expensive pain in the ass. Charging 00 per round-trip ticket will not, contrary to whatever you believe, solve all your profit issues.
@#$% it. I'm going to bed. _______________________________________________________ By the way, Steph, about my ability to hit a target with flaming napalm at 30 feet-- I'm mildly disappointed that you think so little of my pyrotechnic abilities. Thirty feet, nothing! If it can't project the length of your average fairway, it's not worth inflicting upon the enemy.
...If you'll excuse me, I feel a sudden urge to melt ballpoint pens over a Bunsen burner. _______________________________________________________ Whoa, Jamie-- have you been busy, or what? *grins* And I bet you'll all be sorry to hear that that lovely bit of commentary on Japanese pop music put me in a babbling mood.... Eheh. I apologize in advance, really I do. But hey, at least I've managed to keep my sticky fingers out of the news headlines, recently. Everything I could say has already been said by someone else anyway, so why waste my breath when I can babble about music instead?
In a nutshell: Jamie's right. What most people are thinking of when they refer to 'J-pop' is really just a segment; not even a genre because in Japan it's not classified as such. What most of you think of is the sugary techno and vapid (?) lyrics that can be found in, say, Ayumi Hamasaki's or TM Revolution's albums, or maybe Dream... damn, I'm having trouble thinking of other artists here. Megumi Hayashibara, Masami Okui and the like qualify as well, although I personally have a hard time grouping seiyuu and anime CDs with the more mainstream stuff; the target audience just seems far narrower. Besides which, even Ayumi Hamasaki writes a lot (all? I don't have enough of them to be sure) of her own songs, and while I don't love most of it enough to pay Avex prices, I do really enjoy quite a few of her singles. If you wanna talk pre-packaged sound, I have two words for you: Antinos Records. *grins* I mean, Daisuke Asakura produces TMR, Kotani Kinya, and Pool Bit Boys, and none of them write their own stuff, all they do is sing. The Gravitation soundtracks are all tangled up with Kinya and Mad Soldiers as well. (Besides which, two of the three feature Asakura's own instrumental tracks on all their albums. And if you've ever seen Takanori Nishikawa perform, or even a PHOTO, you must know that those outfits in Gravitation aren't entirely fictional.)
And yes, there are boy bands and there's ALWAYS Morning Musume-- but who are we to complain? After all, our music industry spawned The Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, and we've got a Dream group of our own. And a couple of their songs are pretty darn catchy. Not deep or artistic, but still fun to listen to. Then there's Savage Garden (was, I should say), Sonique, Daft Punk... you get the idea. I dunno about you guys, but sometimes I like to listen to stuff that's not all depth and angst and full of thought-provoking lyrics. Some songs should just be fun to sing and dance to, you know?
Of course, there's plenty of not-sugary-and-vapid stuff out there, too. Gackt might be weird as hell (and a lot of other things besides), but he most certainly isn't brainless. You can't get much more original than most of his stuff. Glay also can be surprising-- it's not necessarily the lyrics that keep me hooked on their albums (even though they're worth looking up translations for); it's their continually evolving sound. I know Mel will probably back me up when it comes to Judy and Mary-- shrill singing voice aside, those are some seriously rocking tunes. Then there's Luna Sea, Ryuichi Kawamura (mostly forgettable lyrics, but absolutely gorgeous music), Dreams Come True (okay, so I'm biased-- this stuff is genius, and DCT never sounds or looks the same way twice! Check out the homepage and try the music downloads; it's well worth the time), Hikaru Utada, Porno Graffiti, Dir en Grey, B'z, Mr Children, Chage & Aska (YES I like Chage & Aska, I'm a huge dork. You all knew that already, I'm sure), L'Arc-en-Ciel.... I'm gonna stop there, because I can feel my train of thought veering into a ditch.
Basically, Japanese pop music is just like pop music here. Only even more so, because it isn't as classified and categorized as our music industry is. And at the same time it's really different, because artists there seem to branch out more often into other things, like television shows, radio talks, etcetera. I mean, can you imagine Eminem appearing as a character in your favorite weekly TV drama? All we want from our artists is their music; in Japan it's more of a package deal.
So it all boils down to this: Don't knock it all until you've heard more than the stuff you stumble across due to anime, in one form or another. That's only the bottom of the barrel-- there's loads more variety waiting if you just know where to look.
Wanna argue with my sleep-deprived mumblings? Knock yourselves out. Unless I already read your weblog, though, you'll have to do it the tedious and personal way and *gasp!* email me. ^_^ Goodnight, kids. _______________________________________________________ Listening to: Deep Blue Something, Breakfast At Tiffany's
Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! (I think I got more 'Happy Birthday's online than I did from my relatives... weeeird.) And Lisa, I hope you had a blast at the Jimmy Buffett concert, because I would give my EYES to be able to see him live. Do you hear? MY EYES! ...Yeah.
I wrote a lot last night... well, a lot for one sitting, and there were so many great ideas, it really sucked that I had to call it quits because I had to get up for work this morning. Maybe Saturday night it will strike again... or maybe my characters just like to irritate me. Yeah, that sounds about right. Le sigh. _______________________________________________________ Nijuu-issai desu yo...
I am now officially legal. At least, in THIS country. *smirks* Rather anticlimactic, when one thinks about it.
The birthday itself, however, rocked. :) And there's a full moon tonight, huge and yellow and looking just like it always does when it rises over the top of Wakakusayama-- really freakin' CREEPY. I love it, of course.
Can't think of anything else to say... life, in general, is good.
_______________________________________________________ A memory just smacked me upside the head: Walking in downtown Yokohama, after coming down from the flower gardens, we went down this huge wide street that was filled to bursting with gorgeous boutiques and windows into the most amazing stores I've ever seen, and the sky was so blue and there were so many foreigners, people walking dogs, holding hands, sipping drinks or carrying toddlers on their shoulders, it didn't feel like Japan. It didn't feel like any one place. It was just the world, and it was incredible.
Wow. _______________________________________________________ Thank you, Denise, for rendering a rant of my own quite unnecessary. And that is all I have to say about that.
I thoroughly enjoy reading Sabina's journal, as she thinks about many of the same things I do... only she is more knowledgeable, and can actually talk about it all (whereas I would sound like the greenest of fangirls). Lovely.
It's been a wonderful weekend! University friends came to stay, and we ate good food and had good conversation, and there was much recieving of gifts. Steph gave me flowers and a giant yellow smiley-face balloon (again! Woo!), and Rene joined us for the movie.
...Lilo & Stitch is the wildest, most insanely hilarious sparkly sunny breathtaking brain-frying tear-jerking adorable bouncy blue rubber FUNBALL of a movie I have ever seen. We didn't stop laughing for an hour and a half, except for when we got all sniffly and teary-eyed. I haven't laughed that hard since... damn, I can't recall ever laughing that hard. (Well, unless maybe I was with you, ne Steph?) I am counting the days until I can see it again.
Of course, after a movie experience like THAT, there was only one thing to do: Buy the soundtrack. And go to the Disney store and pick up a cuddlymuffin Stitch of my own! The soundtrack is great, by the way-- the Hawaiian chorus songs are just enchanting, and it's chock-full of Elvis music. 'Burning Love' is my favorite, and so help me, I have never been able to resist 'Can't Help Falling In Love' no matter WHO sings it.
Naini's right. I am such a little kid. *grins*
And my birthday isn't even until tomorrow! _______________________________________________________ I just finished watching Working Girl... again. It's one of my absolute favorite movies (right up there with Three Men and a Baby, The Secret of My Success, and Labyrinth) and whenever I see it on TV, I simply must watch all of it. Same with any other 80's 'corporate romance' movie. What can I say? It's a bizarre, but extremely fun addiction. I just downloaded the ending song, Let The River Run-- it's the kind of music that I can actually listen to when I wake up in the morning and still not grow to hate. Movies like that always leave me wanting to move to Boston or Baltimore or someplace and get a job in a shiny office building, carrying a briefcase to work in the morning and riding the train and going out to bars at night.
...Yeah, right. XD Who am I kidding?
This is all your fault: Steph and I are watching the Harry Potter DVD, right, and we come to the scene where he puts on the Invisibility Cloak for the first time. All I can think of is the floating Fuuma-head.
ED: "Fuumahead! ...Kafuuma?"
S: "Nah, doesn't work. Can't combine the names in a good way." [meaning, Harry and Fuuma]
ED: "Mmm... HaFuuma?"
S: "Nuh-uh."
ED: "FUU-PO!"
S: *proceeds to laugh herself onto the floor*
...I suppose I ought to add that the only reason that was funny is that it contains a rather large inside joke. Oh well.
Have added more books to current pile: Big Trouble by Dave Barry (the Floridian setting makes it feel like Jimmy Buffett on crack) and another Japanese history book. The history book is proving to be quite a trip, due to the fact that it's over twelve years old, and all the 'current' introductory information is hilariously out-of-date. For instance, when discussing Osaka and its role in the modern-day economy and urban environment, it mentions that 'a new international airport is planned, one that will actually be built out on the water of Osaka Bay.' ...Gee, I wonder how that will turn out.... *snickers* Not to mention that all the hypothesizing about the 'direction of Japan's future' and the amazing economic boom's effects is pretty funny, when you are living in the middle of what DID happen. I wonder why we spend so much time and mental effort on trying to predict events in the future, when we always end up being incredibly wrong. Always!
Off to bed now, work and company to look forward to tomorrow. :) (And Lilo & Stitch, of course!) _______________________________________________________ I SO shouldn't even be awake right now. God help me, I found a giant glittering hoard of Gravitation fanfics... and they didn't suck. Thus, my awakeness.
OH MY GOD they killed Kotori!
*stuffs fist in mouth to stifle loud and inappropriate laughter* Damn, Bridget... it was the last one at the bottom that did it. I can promise THAT one will be residing at the bottom of this page very soon. ...And Akira looks like he's on drugs. XD
Holy crap, it's time for bed. _______________________________________________________ I just finished watching the twelfth volume of Rurouni Kenshin. *Huge freaky smile* Sano cracks me up, Saitou is an entertaining bastard, and Kenshin is absolutely incredible... but Soujiro messed with my head. From the first time the others talked about him, I knew something really awful was gonna come out of it, but... dizZAMN. It was honestly hard to remember to breathe, watching his duel with Kenshin and the resulting (of course) flashback. I was beyond fascinated. It didn't make me want to write fanfiction; it made me want to write something, ANYthing that could spawn a character that believable. (Of course, it also kinda freaks me out, that I understood so well what was going on there... eek.) He soared so far above my expectations, I was amazed. Watsuki just doesn't ever disappoint, I guess! At least, not in this series. And boy, am I glad.
Maybe if this inspiration holds out, I can get some of my ancient short story re-written. *crosses her fingers* _______________________________________________________ Current music: It's Raining Men, The Weathergirls
Bridget, you are INSAAAAANE!
....You rock. 'Mr. Molesto', indeed. *resumes demented laughing fit* First the MSTs and now this... It's nice to laugh for three hours straight sometimes, you know? _______________________________________________________ listening to: Way of difference, GLAY
Gee, this would have been great if it had existed a year ago.... But I'm glad to see it, all the same. All I had to go on was a gray text page full of cryptic pseudo-English and unlinked sections. Have you seen it yet, Diana?
On a completely unrelated note, I really love being an American. I do. But I am sometimes (fine, most of the time) quite ashamed of our government. Freedom of speech, indeed.
Screw you, Bush.
Update: SQUEEE! LOOK! I finally slogged down to the next-to-last link, and whadda ya know, the I-office actually posted photos from our trip last September! I never thought I'd get to see those, that's for sure! I'm even in the first two-- in the second one, I'm in the second row from the front in a red shirt. That's the instructor standing behind me, and Jin-san in front of me, and Cynthia on my left. :) And the photo of the speech competition-- that's my sempai speaking; she won first place. (Her Japanese is perfect, no exaggeration.) *Bouncebounce* Wow, that just made my day. _______________________________________________________ We play Mexico in an hour, and I have to go to bed and OUR VCR WON'T TAPE THE GAME. I want to kick something.
I finally got off my butt and popped two of those Kenshin DVDs into the PS2 tonight, Steph... and it was like starting an avalanche. I'm hooked all over again (even though I seem to have never watched eps. 25-29-- because we started the disc and the first thing I said was, 'What the hell is Shishio doing here?') Rurouni Kenshin really is one of those stories that I just never get tired of. I know (basically) what is going to happen, but it doesn't matter, ever-- it's just as riveting regardless. The artist and critic in me might love Cowboy Bebop, but the bookworm in me, the part of me that loves an action-packed story full of surprising people and lots of heart, that's what keeps me hooked on this series. It's one of the most continually refreshing and enjoyable stories I've come across, written or animated. It just doesn't quit.
I hadn't watched any of it since picking up the manga, so it took about an episode or so to get the feel of things again (because there is NO substitute for Nobuhiro Watsuki's art, absolutely none-- it even makes animated fights look slow), but once that was dealt with it was like, well... coming home is a helluva cheesy phrase, but it works. I suppose I'm more like Doren than I thought; the Japan we both love is the Japan you can only find in Kyoto and in out-of-the-way corners of the landscape. I mean, eeesh... in an animated show like this you only see what they want you to see, which is the club-the-viewer-over-the-head type of Kyoto sights like Toji and random streets in Gion, yadda yadda. But it was still so weird... or maybe I'm just being lame. Although, to be fair, the Japan that interests Doren is mostly what I got to see-- all the old places, the beautiful scenery and the gardens and the traditional shops-- honestly, Nara just soaks into you after a while, whether you actively seek out its history or not. It's just that incredible a place, and I don't know if I'll ever get it out of my system. (Hell, why would I want to?) And Kyoto, especially around the edges where city and mountains meet, has this weird aura all its own.
So: Two discs down, three to go! (And then I guess I either borrow more or move on to CCS, right Steph?)
I think the fact that historical dramas and novels (like The Fox Woman, which I'm reading now) feel more real to me than contemporary Japanese writing is rather telling-- but then, if it's movies instead, a modern setting is just as familiar and actually makes me miss things more. (I'd give my molars for a visit to an izakaya and some karaoke right now... or better yet, Sam & Dave's!)
Paul McCartney was just on Larry King Live, and watching the interview made me think a bit, about why I've never bothered really listening to the Beatles. I suppose when the first wave of resurgent popularity hit (when I was around 14, that is) I was too young to really appreciate them, even though all my friends and everyone else on the planet seemed to eat it all up. But then, anything that garners that much instantaneous, hands-down popular approval has always been a turn-off for me. I just have this knee-jerk reaction to every single person on the planet going crazy over the same thing. It still hasn't worn off. I almost always have to have a personal interest (as in, self-discovered reason) to try something before I'll give it a sporting chance, and I never found anything about the Beatles that really snagged me.
But Mom has a book of Paul McCartney's poems (which, of course, I didn't even know he wrote until a couple of years ago-- but I have heard Standing Stone, which is pretty cool), and I flipped through it a couple of times and liked what I read. Which is amazing in itself, really, because I'm horribly wary of poetry in general and very skeptical when I read it. And now that I've made it this far in my life without managing to hear more of their music than what's played on TV or what I catch others listening to, maybe it's time I checked out a CD or two. By now, there's gotta be something in there that I can relate to.
Gozsharuuu~! ^_^
_______________________________________________________ DEAR GOD.
I said it to Haru, and I'll say it again-- writing code from scratch is all kinds of fun. (Yes, I'm serious.) Taking code someone ELSE wrote and trying to sift through it to find out what you need to keep and what you want to toss-- THAT is hell on wheels. And it's what I just spent two hours doing. With Diana's wonderful patient help, that is. She deserves sainthood for putting up with me in 'computer bitch' mode.
AND! My grumbly mood is not complete without this note-- it was lovely of ABC to show the Britain/Denmark game this afternoon. It was NOT so lovely of our local news station to bust right into the middle of the game just as I got home from work, and then never put it back on. I am now convinced that the universe just really doesn't want me to watch the World Cup (it apparently doesn't mind, though, if I see loads of major league American games on ESPN2). Oh, for a VCR that would actually tape something other than PBS....
Off to bed with me now, because it's never good when you're dead sober and STILL can't remember past the last three hours of your day.
_______________________________________________________ First, I must say: Visit The Japanese Flannel. KNOW THE LIGHT THAT IS SHAZNA! ...*cough* And then go to FF.net and leave a review telling Writer how much she rocks.
Just saw Scooby Doo. More importantly, just saw Chamber of Secrets and Powerpuff Girls previews. *1000-watt smile* SQUEEEE! Snape AND cuteness! This is SUCH a great year for movies. And an even better summer.
Also just spent far too much time doing nothing productive on the internet... I need to stop actively searching for good X fanfics, because it takes way too long and is never as successful as I'd like. Now I must dash and scribble down some passages before they vanish from my brain-- I sometimes wish I'd never got the bright idea to graft chunks of my own self onto Elise to make her a more convincing character. It means that writing her, more often than not, can be incredibly upsetting. I suppose it's good for me... the way brussel sprouts are supposed to be good for me. Hn.
Note: Am very grateful for knowledge of Japanese language that I do have. Occasionally what I know surprises me. Am very very irritated with Camui Gackt for using such damned obscure and mismatched kanji in the liner notes of his songs. (Yes yes, very fascinating and deep and all that... but DAMMIT it makes things hard to romanize correctly!) Am very grateful to Mina P. for doing all the dirty work with such style.
*evil grin* Hey Kim, might wanna think twice before you sing along to some of that in public... yes? Brrr. _______________________________________________________ Screw it. Here's my craptacular first attempt at Photoshop wallpaper, a la CLAMP. And random original lyrics. They don't fit so well, but I was too impatient to search for a better song; I'll make another version later. Steal and die! ^_^ _______________________________________________________ Haru, you rock. You really, really do. You deserve a copy of my Gackt tape, in fact-- among other things. MWAH!
...And if you ever accidentally spoil the end of the BH animation for me, I'll bite your head off. (I'm assuming it diverges somewhat from the manga, no?) I'll still love you though. :)
I suppose that goes for the rest of you too. Go on! Off with you! Haven't seen Sorcerer Hunters? FIND IT! Laugh till you choke! Drool over Zaha (or Chocolate)! ...And then feel your brain implode. Hee.
Dammit, once again I find myself wanting nothing but a good handful of Glay concert DVDs. And Soyokaze. Nuts. *trundles off to pop 'SURVIVAL' in the VCR*
ONE WEEK 'til Lilo & Stitch!!! *bouncebouncebounce* _______________________________________________________ Eeeexcellent. This faboo theme is brought to you by the Divine Miss N! If you wanna know why I adore Deb so much, go check out Jinks, her lovely original comic.
That's all for now; there's a plate of steak fajitas calling my name. _______________________________________________________ |
