Thursday, September 14, 2006

Ideas are like colds-- they spread like wildfire and you can't help but catch 'em.
Hey, everyone! I made it back without being eaten by beligerent kilograms. =D That's good news if I ever heard it.

Speaking of good news, the toystore officially hired me last week. I did twenty-seven trees worth of paperwork earlier this week, and I still have training, but I think that once I get used to the job, I'll probably enjoy it (or at least not be so horribly nervous). I'm working Customer Service/the register, so I'll probably have lots of fascinating stories. XD

Anyhow, sorry for being AWOL. I've been online, but not actually around. In good news, I think I re-found Dagger! Which leads me to wonder if she was lost or I was. I dunno. I think it's the same Dagger from my earlier days, but I'm not sure if she created a new journal or if she got caught in the crossfire of me purging my friends list. Hmmm... Or maybe I'm thinking of Willow. =/

Also, I think I started something interesting. Apparently, now the dub of Howl's Moving Castle is the big topic of discussion over at Mimmi's journal. Hmmm.... :3 As a side-note, I really want to read the book. I needs to get me some more books. I miss them so.

And, in the spirit of spreading ideas, I noticed that Mimmi mentioned something about Swedish dubs. I happen to have a bunch of Digimon clips on my harddrive in some language (maybe Swedish?) that will definitely make you say "Wow, our dubs are nowhere near that bad." Wanna see? You know you do.



I would post more, but I don't want to burst your eardrums.

I'm definitely going to be super-productive this weekend (I'll make myself!). Hopefully this entails a nice new theme, especially since fall officially starts next Saturday, I think. :3

-MC
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Wednesday, September 6, 2006

"Here's a curse for you: All your bacon shall buuuurn!"
Ah, Calcifer rocks my socks. Especially since he's voiced by Billy Crystal in the English dub. XD

I'm learning lots in college! For instance, in astronomy, I learned that kilograms are aggressive in large numbers. They roamed the English moors, stealing nobles and dragging them back to their lairs. A group of intrepid astronomers heard of the kilograms' misdeeds and set out, telescopes in hand, to take care of the rogue kilograms. They found the kilograms, but they got surrounded! Fortunately, Galileo was uncommonly good with his telescope and managed to take down at least half of the rogue kilograms. The brave astronomers hacked away at the aggressive kilograms. They returned to the troubled town and announced victory! In place of the rogue kilograms, however, the astronomers asked the good people of the town to use the less aggressive Relative Earth Mass to judge the masses of large celestial bodies. Then, they rode off into the sunset, Galileo proclaiming "Merry Christmas to all and to all friendly system of measuring mass!"

...Maybe I misunderstood that part of the lecture. And how did Beowulf end up in there? O_o

I also ended up taking Brit Lit rather than Asian Humanities because it wasn't offered this semester. But, I do love literature (almost unnaturally so), so it turned out pretty well. :3

I'm still occasionally getting lost, but I'm getting better! =D It would be better if I'd stop ignoring my instincts.

Also, I think I will need a new theme, seeing as how fall is almost upon us. Well, us in the northern hemisphere. ^^;; Hmmm...I'm thinking of going with Tsubasa RC just because I have pictures on my harddrive and a bunch of links to fansites. And it has everything! S+S, a flamboyant (potentially gay) guy, and a ninja! It's like Card Captor Sakura mixed with Ouran Host Club with a dash of Naruto! (Okay, not really.) But, we'll all be sad to see Hikaru and the stripes go. At least my site won't make everyone crave watermelon anymore. ^^;;

Well, everyone have a wonderful rest of the week. :D

-MC
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Somehow here is gone.
Mood: I have a horrible, horrible sense of direction. Starting college just proved it. It tooke me almost twenty minutes to find some of my classes. They're tricksy college people-- they hide their classrooms in random nooks and crannies. Who woulda thunk that S006 would be on the other side of the building of S005? Not me. I'm still settling in, but I think I'm starting to get used to everything. I'm probably going to drop one of my sociology classes for an Asian Humanities just because I don't like the sociology class as much as expected. Trig is fantastic, though. The teacher is so nice and kinda quirky. I'm hoping I do well. ^^

Also, I got my IB diploma in the mail today. It's kinda plain, but I'm still getting a frame and hanging it above my desk. <3 Maybe I should go back and visit my high school once. I need to pop into anime club meetings anyway. >:3

Eh, otherwise not much is going on. I'm still dreadfully behind in anime, but I haven't been to the bookstore in such a long time. (Maybe I'll convince my mom to take me up there this weekend-- I could do with some Tsubasa and Ouran ^__^). I've yet to make anything for the site, but I'm just waiting to get inspired.

Yeah, about that rant last entry, it wasn't directed at anyone specifically, and I'm totally down with people disagreeing with me. If nobody disagreed with me, it'd be no fun to have an opinion in the first place! :D So, thanks for commenting, everyone. ^_^

-MC
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Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Angry rant: Stupid pompus n00bs.
I can't hold this in any more. If I hear one more complaint about the Naruto dub, I'm going to bust. Yes, I know the voices aren't perfect. Yes, there is occasional mispronunciation. Yes, I know, I know, it's not perfect. But, it's a hell of a lot better than the dubs I started out with.

I am so sick and tired of these pompus-ass n00bs that probably came on board with the upswing in anime popularity. They find anime, find that they can get it for free, and automatically think that the original Japanese with fansubs is the best thing evar. It, of course, never occurs to them that fansubbers are human and often in a rush, so that there is mistranslation. They also wouldn't know bad Japanese voice acting if it jumped in front of them and beat them senseless with a hallibut. Add to that their blatant ignorance of language (Japanese and English are extremely different in grammar and speech!), and you have yourself a pompus-ass n00b that irritates the hell out of people like me.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all n00bs. There are seasoned otaku that are equally snobbish and possibly more irritating because they should know better. It's especially worse because the seasoned otaku are giving the n00bs a creditable base from which to complain. "I think the Naruto dub sucks, but so does my friend and he's been an otaku for seven years!"

I'm also tired of this "OMG-the-production-companies-are-greedy!" argument. Go out and compare Funimation or ADV or whatever to a company that could truly be put under greedy. You'll find that they make substatially less money, from what I can tell. Here is a report on the earnings for Navarre (which is Funimation's mother company. Bear in mind that the data ecompasses all of their properties. Here is Nike's 2006 earnings report. Yes, kids, that's a whole decimal place. Mind you, I randomly chose the comparison company, but you get the picture. There are a lot more profitable (greedy?) companies out there.

Secondly, if not for these production companies, anime may not have taken off in the States at all. It would have, instead, remained underground. If production companies hadn't licensed anime in the first place and even dared to put it on TV, we wouldn't have nearly as many otaku and the industry would have failed right then and there. You complain about a $30 Naruto DVD? What about a $50 import with no English subtitles. That's an alternative. Sure, I guess there might be fansubs, but recalling that there aren't nearly so many otaku, would the fansubbers even bother? Their whole point is to spread the love of anime, but if there isn't a large audience, they might not waste their time or energy.

Yes, I know they're companies and that they're out for profit. But, you must remember that production companies were started by fans, directly or indirectly. They listen to fans much better than companies whose base is the general public.

So, pompus n00bs and elitst jerks, maybe do some reasearch before throwing stones, eh?

Of course, this doesn't apply to any of you. My argument is kind of wasted, huh? I'm not claiming to be against fansubs or anything, I'm claiming to be against pompus jerks. I think that's a sentiment we all can get behind. ^_^

-MC
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Sunday, August 20, 2006

Why, yes, I am 100% pure, nautral silliness.
Uggggghhhhhh. =( My back hurts soo much. Fortunately, we're replacing my mattress (my bed, actually) tomorrow so that I won't have to sleep while feeling the springs in my mattress. Basically, I have room rennovation to finish this week (mostly painting baseboards and maybe getting my closet organised). I start college next Monday and I'm soo nervous. I still have to get my books and supplies and actually find out where my classes are. (eeks!) And, to add to that, I have job training the weekend before school starts! Scary!

Anyway, not much happening here. I'm probably going to play with my photoeditor today. I cleaned up this cute FMA image yesterday. Maybe I'll make a wallpaper? I wonder if I can submit multiple wallpapers with the same image (just lots of variations). Maybe. ^^;; I really want some manga scans to play with so that I can make icons. >__> I'm sure I can find some. Might churn out an article for SOAP, just because I've had a few ideas tumbling in my head for awhile. Or maybe I'll be totally unproductive today. XD

Comment replies! Yaaaay!

Jaguar: I guess Orphen only pretends to have a storyline, huh? Jing is indeed much cooler, even without trying. XD I thought .hack//GU was already out here, but I guess not. I did see this cool ad for a game that simulates The World, which you can play online (with other .hack enthusiasts) or offline (in the storyline). It's coming in Japan this November and I'd be pretty psyched if it came Stateside.

BlueHawk: Augh! I know what it's like not to have a good computer. =( And actually, I can't drive-- I was in the car with my mom, who was driving. I'm going to learn how to soon, but for now, I can't. XD

UnemployedNinja: I don't know what buffering is either. Maybe I should find out? Or maybe I should just cuss at my computer some more. XD I don't think I ever saw that episode of The Simpsons, but I think I might be behind. ^^;; Aaah, I love using slang that nobody really uses anymore. I also love to use strange words I find/make up. Maybe that's why nobody can understand me when I talk... Hmm...

-MC

P.S. I fixed my wireless card and it STILL buffers continuously! =(
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Thursday, August 17, 2006

MC SMASH!
Buffering...buffering. I hate buffering. >:( I'm trying to watch streaming video and it's not playing right. For some reason, partway through the show, it starts buffering. Then, it plays a frame and buffers again. It's like with each frame, Windows Media has to contemplate life or something. Also, it goes from 87% ("Yesss, yess, buffer, my precioussss!") to 42% ("Huh? Wha? How did you un-buffer?!). It might have something to do with "upgrading" my wireless card program. I don't think I did it right. XD

Sooo, what's with the happy mood icon, then? Well, I got my first love post from Mimmi and it made me infinitely happy. :D You may wonder why I'm not doing something similar. Well, you see, I figure these sorts of things should be spaced out. I'm probably randomly going to do it in the dead of November or something (or totally forget ^^;;).

Right-o! To the anime!

Firstly, I watched Sorceror Stabber Orphen: Revenge on Monday (but only the first two episodes). Mind you, I never finished the original series, but there doesn't seem to be a need to. I'm kinda disappointed with the series-- it doesn't look like any of the characters have significantly developed since the beginning of the original series. Sigh. Also, Majik is awesome regardless. He may not have fashion sense and he's pretty small, but man does he have charm. XD Even more so than Orphen. (Also, his personality is wonderfully not irritating and he has good comedic timing). Here's a picture if you need visuals. Majik is the short blonde boy and Orphen is the tall, dark-haired one. Cleo is the girl.

Hmm...what else have I watched lately? I can't remember. ^^;; I did finally beat .hack//Infection and am now wallowing in depression in .hack//Mutation (no monies for Kite! Dungeon-hopping seems imminent). Actually, I think I have to catch up on some anime. Mostly the free streaming stuff (free good stuff = MC's addiction!).

Wait, that's all? I thought there was more... Hmm...

As a funny side-note, the Fuzz (the Cops, the Police, the Heat) was in my neighbourhood today ticketing unregistered cars or cars with expired tags. I fitfully thought of running down the street screaming "You'll never take me alive, Coppers!" and randomly spinning in the middle of the street a la The Sound of Music. But, I was in the car on my way to an appointment, so no dice. And I thought of it after I came back home. Sigh. I suppose you don't want the cops to think you're crazy or suspicious, though. ^^;;

Aaaaand, I think that's it for today. Thank you for all the wonderful comments last entry. :3 Also, welcome back, KanuckGrrl (sorry if I misspelled your username ^^;;)!

-MC

"Don't you :-) at me!" -Blackrose, .hack//Mutation.
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Between heavy and weightless.
I was completely minding my own business and IT had to spring on me out of nowhere. I was blindsided, knocked over, and now I can't get up. Damn bad thoughts. Damn stupid world.

I try so hard not to make anyone sad, but I really, really can't pull any cheerfulness out today. It won't come.

I'm all alone.

Me versus the big scary monster. Me with a stick. The monster with the world. Damn.

I want to ask for help, but the word won't get past my throat. No. No. I've done this alone before. Just wait it out. They needn't know. Their burdens are too heavy anyway. I should know-- I'm falling apart just shouldering part of their burdens.

Damn.

-MC

P.S. Wow, how did it get THAT dramatic? I was just going to say "I'm kinda bummed today. Super cool update filled with anime love tomorrow!" *coughs* Me and may crazy muse. ^^;;

Though I could do with some warm cookies. :3
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Sunday, August 6, 2006

Flannel pants and plushies.
Auuuugh. ;.; I'm under the weather today. I slept eleven hours and I'm still exhausted. I've been eating like a starving fanboy all day. ^^;; Well, feed a cold, starve a fever. Wait, what if I have both?! O___o (I think I'll eat anyway XD).

So, sorry I haven't visited recently. I can't today because when I get like this, my comments make absolutely no sense. Well, less sense than usual. Maybe I'll pop in tomorrow (assuming I'm alive after Oka-san's To Do List of DEATH! XD).

Awww...I missed my three-year anniversary by three days. ;.; Sigh. I always miss it by a little every year. But, yay! I just recently broke 4100 visits (I wonder how many of them are me checking the site layout...). Woooo! *flails enthusiastically, coughs, falls over*

Well, let's see. I haven't done a comment reply in months! So, let's give it a whirl, shall we?

Jaguar: Rabbits are so much love. :D I don't think I've ever met anyone that could resist the cuddly goodness. Eheh. The desk was premade (I guess), and all I really had to do was stick metal bits in slots and try to put it all together. Still, it's pretty hard. The power drill doesn't like me, so had to screw everything in by hand. Good thing I play a lot of video games and do a lot of writing-- my fingers are super-strong. And I shall certainly scour the Internet for the Jing OVA. Jing with a plot?! =O Shall be interesting.

Sw33tZ: There was an anime based on the Ragnarok online game, but I don't know if the manwha is based on it or not. Maybe I should do some research. ^^;; When I stop being lazy, that is.
Normally, everyone except my sister is involved in constructing furnature-- my mom has challenged me to drawer-building contests (I lost, of course). This is the first time I've done it basically on my own (though my parents did the heavy lifting-- strong fingers, weak arms!).
I'm hoping for some time with my friends this week. Especially since at least two are running off to college next weekend. ;.;

Mimmi: Most of my cute narratives are written just for you. :D And so I don't get too rusty. ^^;;

Pleiades Rising: Yeah, I think the last thing online self-publishing in general needs is more unrevised writings. Just look at Fanfiction.net. =O Lots of scary stuff there. But, I guess we'll all just have faith.
A katana wall mount is indeed a daunting, but highly worthy project. :D My desk has still yet to collapse (though it does occasionally make scary noises. O_O).
I'll make sure to stay nice and cool. Mmmm...bring back s'mores! :D

-MC

P.S. I just learned that my cousin is moving from Japan back to the 'States this spring. I'm super-excited. :D

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Monday, July 31, 2006

Happy post, dammit!

Location: The Sahara, close to sunset.

A lionness drags her prey into her dishevled lair. She gazes at her capture, sizing it up, licking her lips. Suddenly, she begins tearing at it, her claws ripping off the outer flesh, savage growls echoing through the cave. Bits and pieces of the victim are scattered about haphazardly. The lionness suddenly begins to disembowel the poor creature. Bits of wood are neatly placed on the ground, styrofoam goes flying and lands with the other remnants. She finds the most delectable, most important bit of all. On a small bit of paper is written Instructions on putting your new desk together. The lionness grins wickedly, reaching for a hammer and a bit of wood.

Yes, my dears, I built a desk. By myself with little outside help, even. I assume that I did a good job, seeing as how it hasn't collapsed on me yet. Then again, it could just be waiting for the opportune moment. *glances about suspiciously* Other than that, not much here, aside from the obvious. Still not stoked about Adam's plans, but, well, I'll find an alternative. I was actually flipping through my archives yesterday and realised that I always praised the hell out of Adam. He's done some good stuff. I'm still not totally okay with these plans, but I guess I'll have faith, just like in the past. I'm not resending my rant, but I'm also not going to leave just because the Articles section is going by the wayside. It's too much fun here. XD

Anyway, to stuff pertaining to anime! Bluehawk talked about a manga called Raganrok in which Loki is an adult. I think I might have read something like that a looong time ago. It was called Ragnarok, but it was a manhwa and the first volume was about Loki's daughter and something about a sword. It's all really fuzzy now because that was four years ago. O_o Maybe that's the one? It was apparently 50+ volumes long.

I'm hoping to watch some more anime soon. Hopefully, they haven't taken down the last episode of King of Bandits Jing. Maybe when I have the house to myself, I'll indulge. :3

You know, I really need a true vacation. :( My muse has left me for Rio de Janero, so maybe I should leave her for somewhere else. It would be nice just to bunk at someone else's house for the night. My family never vacations. Going to the store is considered a family outing. *sigh* I really want summer to be about friends, it just never seems to happen. Mer.

You know, I should never post on an empty stomach. XD

-MC

P.S. Jaguar, your new layout is perty. Momiji is my favourite (maybe because we're both rabbits?). Constance's is gorgeous as usual too. :D
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Sunday, July 30, 2006

Hitting nerves with hammers.
So, I just read Adam's post for today. I'm going to be blunt: It pissed me the hell off. I left as civil a comment I could and decided that I'd vent here instead.

If you haven't read the post yet, it basically says that he's thinking of retiring the articles and reviews sections because they don't get enough traffic (please read his post if you can-- I am super biased and I'd rather you form your own opinions about this matter). What really overcooked my ramen was that he implied that only visual artists are considered artists. Few people know this, but that has always been a very touchy subject for me.

I am frikkin tired of writers being looked down upon. "Gee, I could be a writer if I like." Yeah, because throwing words on paper like a monkey is totally comparable to carefully picking and choosing words, playing with style and mood, and developing your own voice. I recall (very vaguely) a quote by Isabelle Allende, I think, that went something like this: "You're a writer? I'm a writer too. I dabble in it from time to time." "Oh really? I'm a lawyer like you too. I dabble in it from time to time."

But, that's not all! The reason we might lose the articles section is because it doesn't generate enough traffic. This, of course, sparked an angry tirade in my head about the steadily falling standards at theO in terms of users. I'm all for new members and young 'uns, but for the love of God, would it kill you to CAPITALIZE? PUNCTUATE? GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ENGLISH GRAMMAR? This isn't a frikkin chatroom. There's no earthly reason to rush and write "lol that wuz funy i thnik u shuld rite mor". Clearly, the majority of myO is inhaibited by people with absolutely no appreciation for the written word, seeing as how they maul their own. Also, I don't see how managing the fanart site is much easier than managing the articles section, especially because of all the plagarism. Sure, you can glance at it and say "Oh it's appropriate." But, then you get reports that it's plagarized and you have to go out and investigate and figure out who's lying and such. Way too much drama. As far as I can tell, you don't have the plagarism issue with articles.

You know, I had a really cute post planned involving a cute narrative. But, hey, no one gives a rat's ass about writing, especially since everyone's a writer. So, I guess I'll just express myself in the truest art there is:

-MC
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