And I still don't have enough time to sit down and formulate the proper LJ entry I haven't written for weeks, but I just want to show off my new Rukia avatar, taken from a screenshot of a filler episode of Bleach.

Heh-heh, filler animation sucks.

So, just thought I'd let everyone out there that I am currently drowning in homework, but that I am still alive.

And I have cake.

Which is not a lie.


caaaaaaake.

So today my aunt lent me a scanner. And, since I had work that needed to be done quite desperately, I made the most obvious decision: spent two hours scanning in my assorted odd pieces of artwork, and then spent another forty-five minutes editing one of my favourite drawings to be a userpic. So, meet Emi. She's the main character of a story I'm writing, and she wants to be your friend. Though I should warn you, there is one thing....

But never mind that! Buy my novel when it's published :P. Point of this post was to take her for a walk. Doesn't she look happy?

For the next month, I'm going on a no junk food experiment.

That is, no junk food for a month.

Oh, Haruhi, Loki, kill me now.

( Why is Kesa putting herself through this? Even I don't know. )


Wish me luck! please.

And with any luck, the results will pay off big time.

So, today I've gone through and tagged some of the entries I didn't tag when I originally posted them, and I've realised that I've left my blog with a lot of loose ends. So, I'm going to wrap them up.

( Loose ends wrapped up... )

And done!

....I've lost my $200 calculator. My special, $200, graphic maths calculator. I've lost it. Oh god. I know I took it with me today, 'cause I remember using it, and I'm fairly sure it wasn't stolen, seeing as how I had about $15 in cash in my bag from fundraising for the 40 Hour Famine (more on that later). So it's lost.

Oh god. I'm living on a student's budget here! I can't afford a new $200 calculator!! I'm just hoping a friend accidentally picked it up or something and this'll all be sorted out tomorrow, but right now - oh. oh god. shit.

So, I decided to restore my age old tradition of posting on LJ while working on work on the computer (hee-hee, that sounds funny!). I've achieved and passed today's aim of work and so decided that I'd just write a post about what's rockin' in my life at the moment.
( Read more... )

I have just spent a VERY VERY long time trying to find xxxHolic Chapter 184 online. It was released today, which means that usually the scanlators would have it translated and online YESTERDAY.

So, if anyone has seen it or does see it, please let me know.

Thankyou.

Is it a sign of how much I've been thinking about Shizukesa and Shizukesa-ism that the first thing I think of when I see this riddle:
What is at the beginning of eternity, the end of time, the beginning of every end, and the end of every place? is "Shizukesa!" then "obviously the letter e, but still! Shizukesa!!!!

( Cut for fangirling, length, and spoilers for the first four volumes of the comic series Fables )

Anyway, yeah.. must be off to earn some money.

Today, again, I was lurking on the Anime News Network.

( Alerts for depressing songs and praise for Yoko Kanno, if you're against that sort of thing. )

...I just watched that video for the first time in ages, and now I think I really am crying.

Today, after spending a small amount of time lurking at TVTropes and Anime News Network, I came across a quick, passing reference to Yuki Kajiura's musical piece "Sayonara Solitaire" (translation: "Farewell, Solitaire". No, I don't get it either.), a song I first came across as the closing theme to the anime adaption of the Chrno Crusade manga series, one of my first manga loves.

Well, after yesterday's fairly self-pitying post, things have started to look up. Dad's talking to me again since I helped him out with working on a certain abandoned-but-soon-to-be-occupied wing of our house. He even made jokes! Oh, dad, I love ya <3!
I hate arguing with him. It always makes me feel guilty. O-o
Also, I've rung around and started to look into camera repair. One place told me to just bring the camera in, one said that repairing usually takes three-four weeks and requires a $60 fee even if they don't do anything, and the other place still hasn't rung me back. Sigh. But at least dad's talking to me again! Hurrayz!
So, Friday I'm going into the city (to help my little brother (more on 'the guys' later in a future post) buy a birthday present for the girl he likes (squeeee!! How cute!!)) and will try to get my dad to come along and look into working on the camera. So every thing shouuuld be okay. 
Ah, everything is going not to bad! Maybe I'll be able to set up that sleepover again, that'd be good. You hear me, Ingu?
Now am off to play zOMG! on Gaia Online. Never heard of Gaia before? Leave a comment and I'll give you a special link which will make us both get extra money. Yay, moneeeeeeeeyz.

Am having a VERY bad day. Or the last three days, anyway. BLARGH. Meh. You see, I shouted at my father (only a little bit, and I apologised) on Saturday morning, and he's been angry at me ever since, and telling me to 'grow up' even though he's the one who seems to be sulking. But anyway, I shouldn't have yelled at him, that was dumb. But the point here is that today my dad found out that the family's digital camera is broken, and he puzzled over it for a while, until I was dumb enough to admit that it was probably my fault, as I accidentally dropped it a while ago. He has now made it my mission to get it fixed, but the place I called won't answer my calls and there seems to be NOWHERE near where I live that can repair it. Oh, and I'm pretty much broke, too, so I can't afford to pay for it to be repaired even if I can find somewhere to repair it in the first place. And because of this whole mess, I've had to cancel a trip out with skydance1110 . Yeah, not happy.
Wish me luck fixing my camera!

To celebrate my kind-of-but-not-really end of homework, I've decided to do a rather long entry on something that I love: Animes with sing-along openings or closings.

Let me explain what I mean by this; it's not what you think.I've been a long-time fan of anime opening and closing themes - they're pretty much music videos with clips from the show that comes at the start (or end) of every episode, going for about a minute and a half. Depending on if they're done well or if they're not, they pretty much set up the entire show. Just as a note, here's something I'd consider a 'good' opening, if a little action-less (but not really; the mechas/evas make up for that.)

Neon Genesis Evangelion's "Cruel Angel's Thesis"



That's a good opening. Great colours, fantastic timing, an emotional song, a brilliant tune, and an introduction into the story in general.

But within this category of good themes, it's a sub category that I love most; the 'sing-along' opening or closing . This is an opening or closing in which a character in the opening (or ending) seems to be singing the lyrics, or at least mouthing along to them. This will never last for more than a few seconds, but they're genius; you can get a stroke of insight into the character without anything happening to them in the actual episode.One of the greatest examples of this I've found is the eighteenth Bleach closing theme, Sky Chord.

Bleach's "Sky Chord"

</u>This one was probably my first example of this sort of opening/closing. I love the way you can barely make out the shots of Ai's face singing and her lips moving, but the lines she does say (she mouths along mostly to the word 'onegai', Japanese for 'please') are so out of character that they reveal a hidden total sadness and despair to her character, which you rarely see in the show (in which she runs around and dooms people to hell, after her gang taunts them with images of all they've done wrong). I think it's amazing.

However, this sort of thing can also be used to totally and utterly bewilder, as in this next example. I have number of things that I dislike about it, which will be listed after the video.

Bleach's "Shōjo S"
 Okay, firstly the good points; I really like this song. It's catchy, fairly upbeat, and very mainstream J-Poppy. On the other hand, it's got heaps of suspiciously sleazy-looking images and silhouettes of both Rukia and Orihime, and occassionally Rangiku/Matsumoto. Anyone who knows these characters would know that they would never dance like that in school uniforms several sizes too small - Orihime (the girl with orange hair) is one of the most modest girls in anime, and Rukia, despite several opportunities, is yet to deliver a single piece of fanservice (in the actual anime and manga, that is, clearly not the openings; there's another opening featuring her in a bikini. Anyone who knows the character would think "what the hell??!! No. Just... No." - or at least, that's what I'd do. The last and most relevant thing that bugs me is the bit of Rukia-Orihime lipsyncing that goes on near the end. Any new watcher would immediately assume that they both seem to be in love with the main character, Ichigo (the guy with the short orange hair). Although by now it's fairly clear that Orihime is, Rukia's never made it obvious how she feels. This opening is too out of character, too out of canon, too out of series; and the lipsyncing's just delivering a false message (although admittedly, it's well done).

Bleach is a kind of mixed bag in itself, though, because it managed to produce the excellent "Sky Chord" and the shocking "Shōjo S". But to leave it on a good note, the bit of lipsyncing they've done at the start of "Alonez" leaves me laughing out loud everytime I watch it. Yes, that really is a plush teddy bear.

Bleach's "Alonez"

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What do you think? Leave your comments about this review, and if you've seen another opening or closing like this let me know; I practically collect them.

Step 1). Close all non-work related tabs

Step 2). Get something to eat.

Step 3). Find a post-it

Step 4). Write on it '700 words or bust!'

Step 5). Stick it on your computer screen

Step 6). Open up your Yuki Kajiura playlist on Media Player.

Step 7). Play

Step 8). Post list onto Livejournal

Step 9). Work! Good luck.

As the title said, here is a most fascinating list of things I want to do but can't because of one essay which I am finding rather difficult to write (possibly because I refuse to start it).

1. Watch Tsubasa Shunraiki Kouhen (episode 2); came out a week ago and I still haven't watched it.

2. Write a fancy review which includes screenshots of Tsubasa Shunraiki

3. Watch the new episode proclaiming the wonders of our god, Haruhi Suzumiya (in other words, watch the first and new episode broadcast two days ago of the second series of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya).

4. Write a list of why Haruhi is so great (in other words a highly biased review of said episode, full of compliments; otherwise Haruhi will smite me where I stand).

5. Read some Fanfiction without feeling guilty (ah, yes, I miss that feeling....)

6. Walk down to the local shops to buy ingredients for chocolate chip cookies.

7. Make said chocolate chip cookies.

8. Buy the Clover Omnibus (although this is probably more 'something I want to do but can't because Impose Comics is sold out').

9. Read the Clover Omnibus (see above note)

10. Buy some cool pyjamas for the summit (read: overnight camp) coming up shortly.

11. Talk more about Shizukesa.

12. Finally explain the Shizukesa Scheme.

13. Glare at my internet until it speeds up.

14. Practice the Hare Hare Yukai.

15. Enjoy not having to write this essay.

16. Update my LiveJournal account (oh, wait, I'm doing that now....maybe I should just start the stupid essay already.)

PS. All those wondering when I will finally add a userpic... that is now number 17. I have it in my head, just not on the computer screen.

I bought a 400g block of chocolate on Sunday, when I went to buy Clover from Impose Comics (they didn't have it; their entire shipload sold out same day it came in and I had to reserve a copy from a shipment in three weeks -THREE WHOLE WEEKS! What a waste of two hours - although I got to hang out with skydance1110, always a nice thing. but still procrastination). It's been three days and it's practically finished. I can't afford my chocolate habit any more! That was supposed to last until I next went shopping, to get Clover. Damn.

I ended up staying up until eleven last night (for those not in the know, I only stay up until eleven on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays) 'cause of all the time I lost while editing my LiveJournal. Thanks for nothing!

So, The Shizukesa Scheme. Don't you ever think that the world is absolutely fascinating? Like in incredible, down-to-earth normal ways? That's part of what Shizukesa is about, realizing that you don't need a god or gods because the entire universe is way more incredible than any of them could ever be. Shizukesa is beyond that, beyond time, beyond beginnings and endings, going down to the truth at the core of it all. And no, I'm not going on about Zen or anything; Shizukesa is my own thing. No matter how much it sounds like anything else, it's mine. And yours, if you want it to be. The idea at the heart of Shizukesa is that there's no being to worship; it's an existence to exalt in. Shizukesa's not a chore. It's a celebration.

Everyone sees and understands the world differently. Everyone has a different view. And because of this, Shizukesa is hundreds of things at the same time. And now we're getting closer to what the Shizukesa Scheme is all about.