Suzuka has been compared to other manga such as Love Hina,[6] Maison Ikkoku,[15][16] and Kimagure Orange Road[17] since, early on, it used similar plot structure and plot devices. These comparisons became less frequent as the story developed. According to Kouji Seo, Suzuka was to be a romance story from the beginning, and he had no intention of creating a harem manga.[18] Since the North American version is uncensored, this caused the manga to be rated "Mature" and sold in shrink wrap.[19] Despite the amount of fan service, the manga does not focus on that element.[16] Kouji Seo pays attention to detail which can be seen in the clothing that gives off the sensation they are made out of different material along with the reflections in the windows during the nighttime.[20] This detail can also be seen in his characters as they all have complex personalities that make them interesting and have substance.[21] Overall the reception of the manga has been positive.

God fuck you anime people that write wikipedia entries. I'm actually reading the manga now, when I use the bathroom. It's almost not retarded.

I also see that Livejournal is finally getting "who visits your journal" feature. Welcome to 2006 Livejournal.

I guess this is as good a time as any to step back and think about goals. Here are some of mine:

Get back into the M.A.T. program next year, and get the piece of paper at the end of it. Wherever my life takes me, I really believe that successfully finishing off that experience would be so much better than failing to.

Either learn, or learn how to fake, a few more social skills. (This looks like it's going to be a prerequisite of the previous item, and it's not a terrible idea, in any case.)

Be open to whatever good things life sends my way.

Find a way to share awesome things about math, in ways that help to stimulate others to be creative.

Keep doing my own creative stuff with math. (I could write a whole post about what I have brewing, all of which got shoved to the back burner when I started the program. Maybe I will soon.)

Sell enough of my puzzles to justify making another batch this May or June. This will mean doing the dirty work of marketing for reals.

Write static fiction or IF that knocks people's socks off. Pick one substantial work I want to get done, and finish it by some time in September. (Not coincidentally, when an IFcomp game would need to be done by, and when school stuff would be starting back up, although I'm not at all sure what fall next year looks like, since I've done the academic load, but probably I'd have to start from scratch with the teaching placement.)

Learn one new kind of dance in the coming year.

Stay physically fit. I do okay in the bright season, and was biking more in September than I ever have. I do abominably in the dark season, and when I went to the December Céilí I was feeling it.

Keep my spirits up. I have trouble with this during the dark season too. But when this goes down, all of the other goals become so much harder.

Bring beautiful music into people's lives. (I'm doing pretty well with this with SRS. There is nothing like singing for people at faires who perhaps were just looking for a place to sit down, and making that instant connection. I still need to tweak what I'm doing musically during the rest of the year.)

(For the next few months) Find a job that pays my rent and gets me out of having to rely on my parents. Relevance to my career would be nice, but it's only going to be a few months anyway if I start back up with the M.A.T. program next year, so it doesn't need to be amazing.

(For the next few years) Find a job that I don't hate and that gives me the money and leaves me the time to do things I love. If the job is itself a thing I love, and advances my other goals, even better, but that's not important in the short term. In the longer term, if my other goals are working out, then that will become a goal.

Movie review time!

So, James Cameron's been poking away at his magnum opus for about ten years now. It's finally in theatres -- and just in time, since when he started, 3-D as a mainstream concept was laughable. Now, it's commonplace and accepted. Good for him. But does the movie work? Not "Does it live up to the hype", does it WORK?

Let's say it works despite itself.

I'll get the negative out of the way right now. The story is predictable and utterly tedious. Everything happens that you expect to happen -- a single sentence can summarize up the whole thing, "It's one of those movies where greedy white guys wanna displace the natives, except one of them goes native and leads a resistance." Done. You now know the entire plot of Avatar. The story unfolds exactly as you'd expect, a straight as an arrow path with no ambiguity and no nuance whatsoever. That makes the whole affair completely tedious... there are times when you just want them to get on with it, because you already know how it's going to go. For a movie so alive with color, it's totally black and white, and doesn't even bother trying to reach for anything beyond the basics.

So, if you aren't watching for the story, why watch? Three things: Characters, Spectacle, and Experience.

The characters are pretty nicely designed. They have distinctive voices and personalities, and the interplay of them as they move through the scenarios presented is interesting. Our hero is a bit generic, true, but everybody around him in Pink and Blue works well. None of them really surprise us or have any grey area to them, but they're enjoyable to watch and even the CG characters are so well animated that the ACTING comes through nicely. I can watch these guys and care about them, and that's the key to knowing if they work or not.

The spectacle is off the freaking map. Not just the 3-D, which is terrific (if a bit difficult to get into, since the image feels a bit too 'processed' at times) but the large-scale battles, the amazing environments, soaring through the sky... even walking around on ground level is amazing. This is a treat for the eyes and you always want to see more of it, with the movie only too happy to dish up new things to enjoy as you go.

That's where the experience comes into play; beyond Michael Bay-esque explosions and huge-scale objects to stare at, soaking in the WORLD that's been designed and coordinated by the artists is a delight. Even the more subtle visuals are quite a sight to behold, and they all blend together seamlessly into a living, breathing world... one that's easy to suspend your disbelief and revel in.

Overall... you can enjoy this movie, provided you go into it with the right frame of mind. It's a summer blockbuster, a popcorn movie. The writing is not nearly on par with Cameron's other work. But that's fine, if you go so you can watch blue people fight space marines and explore an MMORPG-esque fantasy world. And now is the time to go, while you can still catch it in 3-D... on home theatre systems it'll still be impressive, but it's not going to be 'what the doctor ordered'. So, if you've got an afternoon to kill and want something that'll entertain the hell out of you even if it doesn't fire up your neurons, it'll play nicely.

• 01:56 AGH. My life-draining pistol in Torchlight? I accidentally disenchanted it. There goes most of my strategy. Time to scrounge... #
• 02:07 ...and ten minutes later I find a unique pistol that'll replace my old one. Excellent. #
• 12:10 You gotta be kidding me. Torchlight's on sale for $5. Keiko, sooo sorry I pleaded to get it early. Coulda saved you money. ;_; ! #
• 15:28 Hurrah! After some firewall wrangling, we've got iTunes talking to each other across the home network. I can listen to Jen's tracks, etc. #
• 00:01 Just finished writing up an episode list / quality guide for Batman:TAS for a friend. Rated them by awesomeness / continuity. #

So last entry, you all met one of the shining stars of Shax's Holiday Haul: the Billy Herrington Halloween version Figma. I mostly wanted it to help mitigate the overpowering girliness in my action figure collection (largely caused by my Revoltech Queen's Blade collection), but truthfully, he's just a hell of a lot of fun and lends himself to so many hilarious scenes. I could easily do a Billy pic a day for an entire year- sort of like a beefier, more nude version of Stormtroopers 365- but I just don't know if the Internet's quite ready for it.

( LOOT REPORT '09 )

Yes, as I look around me, I'm surrounded with traces of a life I should start leaving behind. I own an HDTV, but being one of the first HD models released, not only is it a CRT that weighs a FUCKTON (metric, not SAE), it's also has a standard-def 4:3 aspect ratio. My car- a 1998 Eagle Talon- still runs like a champ, but that's the absolute best that can be said for it- the reverse lights haven't worked in three years, half the paint's fallen off, the heat doesn't work, the windshield fogs up to near-zero visibility if you so much as LOOK at it, and lately it's developed a charming habit of not letting me in on the driver's side, even when the door's unlocked- I gotta open the driver's side door by going around to the passenger's side, leaning across the seat and opening it from the INSIDE. My desktop computer was already approaching obsolesence when I built it in 2003.

I don't need to put up with this shabby crap! I'm at a point in my life where I'm making more money than it takes me to survive; I can afford to increase my standard of living! And that's just what I intend to do in the new year.

Unfortunately, this is gonna involve a little research on my part. I've never shopped for cars; all I know is that I want something that's kinda small, fun to drive, gets decent gas mileage and doesn't cost a fortune. I know a bit more about TVs, but not enough to go out and buy one TONIGHT.

The computer, though... that's something that needs to be addressed first, I think. Which is sad, because of the three upgrade points I'm looking at, it's probably the one I know LEAST about at the moment. See, aside from buying an external hard drive or two, I haven't paid a BIT of attention to PC hardware since I put my LAST system together- again, at the end of 2003. Going into Christmas, I already knew I wanted to put any Christmas money towards a new desktop PC, but didn't wanna start picking out parts and pieces until I knew how much I had to spend.

Well, now I know! And I spent most of the day after Christmas building systems and tearing them apart again in Newegg.com's Shopping Cart. Only now, it seems like I've hit on a combination that offers a fairly decent balance of performance and value. Submitted for your perusal: my next PC candidate. Please, take a look, let me know if I'm crazy or just plain dumb.

( TO THE WORKBENCH )

I spoiled Joe for this only to the extent of telling him that (a) Things Had Changed, especially with respect to Jim Kirk, and (b) expect the physics to suck. In fact, I asked him right after what his main reaction was, and he said, "The physics was crap."

"It's Star Trek," I said grudgingly. "Isn't the science supposed to suck?"

"Yeah, but more than usual," he said.

( A few other notes, nothing much. )

I watched more of The Wire but I will report on that later, as Martina Sprague's A History of Edged Weapons is calling my name. (Okay, not literally, but if books could sing, like gold in Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane to dragons...)

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Currently about halfway through Vanity Fair. The main impression: the point of the book, whether Thackeray wants it to be or not, is how it's impossible to like vapid, inert Amelia more than scheming, accomplished Becky, and how this can only be true because of their fictionality. If they were actual acquaintances, one would despair of Amelia but like and trust her; perhaps be entertained by Becky, but be guarded and essentially distrustful of her. Thackeray wants us, I think, to simultaeneously hold Becky in contempt and respect her.

Uptown Girls

The marathon continues. Sadly, Brittany Murphy passed away suddenly while I was still grappling with my impressions of this film, which I watched a few weeks ago but haven't really been able to nail down in an entertaining way.

I'll summarize and then I'll open a giant barrel of tl;dr.
( This is a well-made film that I found fairly irritating but was coming around on, and then the final scene filled me with eye-bleeding rage. )

Do you know, guys, I realize I am a total shameless watcher of really bad TV...but there is something wonderfully novel about watching good TV. I mean novel and wonderful and fascinating and why am I not watching more of this kind of stuff? (Which reminds me, I still miss the heady days of Veronica Mars S1.) ( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/101840.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

( Webreadings: math, art, sci/tech, miscellany. )

Okay, now to see if I can finish watching The Wire 1.4. (I had to stop last night because a certain small lizard came into the room and wanted snuggles. *g*)

This entry was originally posted at http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/101503.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Last night, I had one of those experiences that transforms your life. I have a lot of those. The difference is that I had it again.

Which is to say that I borrowed a friend's copy of Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" and read "The Veldt," and found it to be just as creepy, memorable, and shocking as it was when I first read it when I was, what? Ten?

It's rare that I go back to the well of my childhood and dig out something that holds up every bit as well as I remember it. Usually there's a few chunks knocked off the edges; Narnia's still a lovely place to visit, but I forget how sparse C.S. Lewis's text was. Isaac Asimov's characters are too simplistic. The special effects in the old Star Trek are a little hoary now.

But The Veldt? Even now, I can feel a master at work. Every bit as good as an adult as it was when I was a kid.

And so, since I asked about it on Twitter yesterday, I'll ask you all today: what seminal book/music/movie from your childhood is just as good to you today? It's rare that I get that thrill twice, and am ecstastic every damn time it happens.

(And yes, this is why I love Star Wars, why do you ask? Just the first movie, though. Empire's always a little sullied by the fact that I know Jedi is comin'.)

Click to enlarge.

( lethal dose of manliness )

KUNG FU KRISTMAS KAPER

My gift to you! Happy late Christmas!

It is a run and jump about kicking Santa in his sack!



It is my most game-like game yet! Get it HERE:

http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/files/kkk_0.rar

Enjoy!

http://www.youtubedoubler.com/?video1=http://www.youtube.com/v/HsF_2CNV9v4&start1=3&video2=http://www.youtube.com/v/06CvUjLgK5g&start2=0

• 02:03 Happy holidays from #anachronauts sa04 with new scenes and some bloggy bonus material! Share and enjoy. tinyurl.com/ykenwxg #
• 11:39 Ahh, the melodious sounds of holiday music. A fine tradition! Oh, and Muppets. (I love Muppet viral videos.) tinyurl.com/yau4tea #

I know, I know: I should have spent those 45 minutes reading Black Powder War by Naomi Novik, because I know this is a sad episode of Angel. But now that I actually like Darla (I seem to recall calling her "the blonde irritant" for the longest time...), I thought I'd revisit.

( Spoilers. )

I would kill to listen to Angel in Korean, but according to wikipedia on Angel the show was never broadcast there (and just to confuse matters, there is apparently a South Korean TV show called Angel but retitled Lobbyist, which suggests to me that it is probably not about angsty broody vampires *g*), so it is highly unlikely to exist in that form.

Okay, just to round off an evening in depressing entertainment, I am going to watch The Wire, finally, since it has become clear that Joe refuses to watch depressing TV with me. (Me: "Couldn't you have told me this before I packed, so I could have saved myself some luggage room?")

This entry was originally posted at http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/101255.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

vampric powers do not lie in the physical but in the mental - hypnotic suggestion? mind-altering physical presence? - physically v. repulsive (Count Orlock) and long age means nuances of human contact are forgotten - ONE USED TO CONCEAL THE OTHER - relies on mind-reading and control to say what people want to hear and make them see what vampires want them to see - paragons of beauty, all Glamours/veils - target the young; more easily manipulated (more impulsive, less strength of will to resist)

all human senses are controlled by the mind - control the mind and you control the body - what is romance with handsome man is hallucination as monster feeds on you - DO NOT BE FOOLED

-

Every so often I find pieces of paper with stream of consciousness ideas scrawled on them that I thought were breakthrough revelations at the time and, as such, had to record for posterity before they disappeared forever. I think this one had something to do with Twilight.

Truth be told, I'm a little worried by that "do not be fooled" at the end.

Season's Greetings to all!

(I would text more people individually, but I haven't transferred over phone numbers to my new phone yet. Whoops.)

edit: I'm sick of looking at that picture.

We spent Christmas Eve night under the eves, sleeping over at our friends Kat and Eric's house so that we could have the joy of Christmas morning with them and kids of assorted ages: their girls, who are 6 and 18 months, and my 17-year-old daughter. We got to bed about 11 and woke up around 8 - well, I woke up at 8; Ferrett had been lying there awake, wondering where the pounding of little feet and the demands that we get up were. So we got up, brushed our teeth, and then waited, not wanting to wake kids if they were sleeping in.

Turns out that the polite was epidemic. Kat had kept the kids from coming to wake us so that we could sleep in. So everyone was waiting on everyone else.

Once that was sorted, we got coffee and then fell upon the presents beneath the tree. Of which there were many. I think everyone was satisfied that Christmas had treated them well. After that, it was off to dim sum with other friends.

That's when things got really entertaining.

There was a stiff wind last night, and though we had power and all the traffic lights had power, the Asian Market, where Li Wah resides, was without electricity. But in a city heated by natural gas, this was only a minor problem. The wait staff was sticking candles to small bowls and seating everyone willing to choose dim sum by candlelight. We squeezed 10 of us, plus a high chair, around a table for 8 and chowed down on delicious food. We stuffed ourselves, and in true dim sum style, when the bill came it was $13 per person. That is the magic of dim sum.

Now we are back at the house, and getting ready for naps. Tonight: Mythbusters marathon. Christmas is filled with awesome.

Current Mood: content

Holiday happies to you!

Because I want to know: What's the best thing you got for Christmas this year?

My answer is crazily threefold, because I am so overcome with happiness I cannot decide:

1) My Mom got me a Roomba. So I will now have a silly robot vaccuuming my living room, which is great because I hate vaccuuming and hate messy floors equally.

2) I got the complete Seasons 1 through 5 of Mythbusters. Considering that Adam and Jamie are my comfort watching, this makes me extremely thrilled.

3) This is the one where I can't say how much I like the present yet, but it fills me with warm fuzzies; Gini and I have battled for months over DJ Hero. "It's another stupid plastic toy," she said. "I don't want it cluttering the living room. I don't like the music. And I really hate the gameplay. And I don't want more clutter in our living room!" So though I wanted it, I had resigned myself to not having it.

I felt that box in my lap. I was hoping. And sure enough, even though Gini personally hates it, she got it for me for Christmas because she knew it would make me happy. And that's really filling me with a sense of love right now.

This is a very good Christmas, though. My Dad got me a box full of awesome, too, and Eric and Kat got me a guitar shirt that you can play with your hands. We don't have batteries for that right now, but I'm not going to fret it.

Merry, merry Christmas! So what made you happiest under the tree this holidays?

I ask every year at Christmas: If you'd like to get me an inexpensive gift that will nevertheless make me do little happydances of joy, feel free to post cheesecake pictures of yourself in the comments here. (Alternatively, if they're spicy or you're shy, mail 'em to me at theferrett@theferrett.com.)

(And as always, every year I do this, some guy goes, "Oh ho, here I am! You didn't expect this!" and posts a picture of himself. And it's true that I'm straight, but a) I like seeing pictures of people anyway, b) I'm never shocked by photos of guys, and c) as far as I'm concerned, posting cute pictures of yourself where attractive people - potentially girls - can see them is usually a good idea. So it's like whoah, you sure are alternative, buddy.)

Merry merry!

Peace on Earth, good will to humanity.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

But first: eee! Someone wrote me a fic for The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope, a book I have loved since forever: A Land of Their Own. It is sharp and bitter and perfect. I am currently trying to leave a thank-you comment, although given how many people must be hammering the server right now, I may have to try again later.

Meanwhile: I wrote six full-length (but short) Yuletide stories, in four different kinds of fandoms (book, TV, music, and mythology). Four of the six stories, if you should happen across them, should be screamingly obvious to anyone who has ever read any scrap of my (fan)fiction. Said four may also be said to have a theme, although this kind of happened by accident. I will not confirm or deny until after reveals, although I will be curious as to why you think I wrote what. :-) Have fun guessing!

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A few more scenes -- but wait, there's more!

( Here's a holiday bonus for the fans. Enjoy! Click to read. )

christmas sucks

For YKL, for Christmas.

In the streets of a city at the edge of hell, the last angel traces out every dead end in soft, measured footsteps. In her hand is a shard of star, with which she marks boarded-up windows and decaying walls. She writes fragments of poetry in gutter cant and half-formed creoles, draws crude stick figures of lovers coupling and cats curled by leaking radiators.

The last angel has only one wing, and it is the color of smog and the crisp, charred end of a candle wick. She plucks the flight feathers and gives them to nursing mothers and beggars huddled in coats two sizes too large. The last battle has been fought, and hell's gates are open wide, but some people cling to the city's cinders nonetheless. Although she cannot guide them out of the city--that is something only they can do for themselves--she can give them her assurance that, as long as they linger here, so will she.

===

Merry Christmas to those who wish it!

This entry was originally posted at http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/100830.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

• 01:11 One extra scene for #anachronauts sa04. Also, I'm gonna start linking to the feedback threads from Twitter. tinyurl.com/ygkdmyy #
• 13:01 .AMR files for ringtones sound like the devil being castrated. I'm off to find some proper MIDI files instead. I do dig the Adlib FM sound. #
• 13:44 Hurrah! I've figured out Bluetooth! I'm less old now! And I got a pic off my phone camera! ...it kinda sucks. tinyurl.com/ydzdr3v #
• 15:33 Merry Christmas (with ObDisclaimer) to all. Looks like I'll have a relaxing xmasu with the family this year; no obligations, no visits, etc. #
• 19:42 Jen got me 8 bags of assorted chocolatey Lindt Lindor Truffles. Clearly she wants me to get the diabeetus and die. Pray for me. #
• 21:58 New RB2 Drum Kit + LEGO Rock Band's "No Kick Pedal" Cheat = Happy Disabled Gamer. Drumming is fun instead of frustrating and impossible! #
• 23:38 Honey roasted cashews are mortal sin in nut form. #
• 23:54 Adjusted LoudTwitter to post at midnight instead of 2am, since I usually do story updates after midnight, and those should take priority. #

Bought a new computer. Another desktop.
Phenom II 965, Radeon HD 5850, 8GB DDR3.
Hope it lasts me 5-6 years.
Decided not to get a laptop, but I'll probably get a ~$250 netbook sometime during the coming semester.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

A year ago tonight, I was nervously anticipating telling the families that I was pregnant. We were at the point where the few people who knew were helping me hide it by handing me large sweaters and making sure I was discreetly fed 300 times a day so as not to feel sick. But I wasn''t showing all that much and the baby was still just an idea.

Tonight, my daughter is sleeping peacefully (hopefully) upstairs in the Pack 'n' Play. She has a stocking! With a rubber duck inside! Because she loves the bath - she is a person now who loves things! This evening, she took her very first shower with me, and it didn't even freak her out. She loved it, water in her face and all.

Isn't all of that just kind of amazing?

(Merry Christmas to those of you who are Christmas-celebrators. Have a good, cozy day tomorrow if you're not. :))

Current Mood: optimistic

It being Christmas Eve and all, I was thinking of this Christmas story and drew it up. I meant to draw it nicer, but didn't get time.  It's about family.

( under the cut, because it's big )


If it helps to understand it better, I am the second oldest of four girls.

Merry Christmas, everyone! To you and yours.