Thursday, April 27, 2006

Went back to Egham today. Got in at 10, sorted out my stuff about...1/2 hour before Mum called about when I was going to be back...This was at 5:30. I'd spent two hours doing admin rubbish, and about that much asleep on my bed. But I wasn't about to tell her that. I don't know what happened to the rest of the day... *rolls eyes* (where are the emoticons when you need 'em?).

I'm sick of my big coat. Its too hot for this weather, especially when I'm wandering around Founders (the palace-like main college building. The one they put in the prospectus...Oh no, you don't see the cell-block H style Halls.) Its not waterproof any more, and makes me look scruffy whatever I'm wearing (a fine excuse...)

Random quotation...Not anime, but from the late, great Douglas Adams:

“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (?)

Comments (1) | Permalink

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Back home and feeling sorry for myself...
This post goes into personal matters. Read if you wish, and by all means comment...I'm doing this for catharsis of a sort, in simply writing it down. I accept the consequences of writing on a public site.

I'm still stuck in my depressed rut, and can just about bring myself to scribble bits for fiction, and add slowly to articles if I can form a decent sentence or five. If anyone who happens to read this site wonders why I never talk about serious, RL, or personal stuff...that is why. I don't mean to come across as superficial, much less deceive people, but I find it all too easy to use the internet as a tool for...distraction.

I do want to put something up here, or to be more accurate, I know I will regret it if I don't do something useful towards it. It's times like this that being debilitating self-conscious and, well, shy is a disadvantage... As though it isn't the rest of the time.

I don't know what to do with this account at the moment. I'm hardly running it for popularity's sake, but...I feel its not going to be a worthwhile endeavour until I put something up here. As it stands, my articles are in a decent shape, are potential submissions. The main FMA one needs to have fangirl-ish rants weeded out of it, along with some woolly pieces of thinking. And the main thing I’m worried about is coming across as pretentious, even when 'all' I'm doing is a character analysis.

(NB: check site rules on submission)

'Neverwhere' isn't the tough read I took it to be when I first looked at it (four years ago?). I'm assuming it comes under Mum's remit that I refrain from reading anything, and I quote, 'intellectual'. Guess I'll have to stay away from Ian's bookcase. My reaction to its contents are bordering on self-caricature (to clarify, we're talking about a DIY-ed bookcase containing many books I want but can't afford). I am expected to be enthusiastic, but am silently appalled at my over-blown attempts at enjoyment. I lack discretion, and acting skills.

The fact that even, on the 'academic' side of things, an illustrated copy of Blake is failing to entice me is very, very depressing. Half a year ago, the very thought would have had me grinning like the geek I am.

Three years ago my time at university meant so much to me. And yet it has come to nothing. I mock and hate my own thoughts, but can't find any way around them.

Comments (1) | Permalink

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Minor Thing
Fanfiction writers have a certain acronym: 'NWS'. This stands for 'Not Work Safe' and refers to fics with content which is unsuitable for viewing at work...usually sex, violence and the like. I think there should be an addition to this: NFS.

Not Family Safe; a simple description of stories which should not be viewed with family members, young or otherwise, around.

Note to self: Stop reading NC-17 slash in the living-room. 'Tis a bad idea with children/teenagers/parents around.
Comments (2) | Permalink

Saturday, March 18, 2006

   Fire is...fun
The dissertation deadline is next week. Wednesday to be exact. Someone shoot me now. Or at least point me towards a medium-sized hole I can crawl into and die.

Bloody, f-ing, damned...life in general. And I need to go back home at the beginning of April.

-End self-pitying rant-

On a lighter note...I've acquired and watched all of 'Full Metal Alchemist'. Call me a sheep, but it really is an awesome anime. The angst is painful, the drama great...and there's humour too. I wonder if it's too much a contradiction that my favourite episodes include 'Flame vs Fullmetal' and...'Night of the Chimera's Cry'. Oh, and ep. 25. They killed Hughes, the ba****ds.

Still squeeing evilly about Roy in the last eps. That tenacious little git. Go...you!
Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

   Not anime related, but I watched 'Serenity' last night. I believe a fangirl-ish 'woot!' is in order.

I did happen to miss the first half-hour or so, as the posters were wrong about the location. I missed the IFIS elections, darn it... :(

Whedon is a genius, though I can tell that another film is not likely. It was good, but relied a little too much on simple plot devices and knowledge of the TV series. Yes, this is contrary to what half the fans say, so shoot me.

The Reavers' true origins probably didn't mean much to anyone who didn't know 'Firefly', as such newcomers were watching for the action. Which there was plenty of, granted, but mostly revolving around Summer Glau looking good in a dress and ripping up various bad guys in an artistic fashion. So, we had gratituous violence and fanservice.

One thing I couldn't fault it on was the drama, especially on the way the deaths were handled. I won't spoil it, but...it worked very well. The script was pretty good, especially for Mal, in his interactions with Inara and River. We seen a suitably dark side of him, too. One thing that fell flat was the "we aim to mis-behave" tag-line. Have no idea where that one came from. Almost as though it was a deliberate sound-bite.

Watched the first four episodes of 'Elfen Lied' today. The opening minutes are a mess of gratitous violence and nudity. But it only gets better from there, as it quickly turns its attentions to far more serious matters. Oh, and the Dicloinus are the most interesting ideas for mutants I've come across in a while.
Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

   Life is...*that little grey emoticon*.

I've just discovered the sheer genius of emoticons. After thinking they're lazy blotches scattered across HTML documents, they now appear to be expidient, vibrant ways of portraying feelings. (oh, how original) A universally recognised image - a little face - combined with almost similarly well-known colour coding. Genius!

Now if only there was a way to *stop* people using this form of visual shorthand so much. (I do confess I like using the 'Twisted evil' one, though).

-----

Work is going at snail's pace. I would also like to get back home for a couple of days - personal.

------

*The following is intended as a general point, and not a personal attack upon anyone who happens to sign my guestbook*

Every MyOtaku guestbook contains the following reminder:

"It is strictly against policy to sign guestbooks purely for the purpose of promoting your own site."

I wonder if this point was missed by the friendly girl who signed mine?

At least the inclusion of 'lo...oove' was enough to inform me I wasn't being flamed for inactivity (what a futile effort that would be).

Incidentally, her comment was proof of the pandemic of netspeak infecting most on the net. Just because a person chooses to write in particular way doesn't immediately make their presence hostile (well, only to grammar).

I do not tolerate incomprehensible prose, as simple misunderstandings can be very detrimental to any form of discussion. It is the bane of all online communities and fandoms - from the Pit to LJ.

It seems that a fortnight lurking on GAFF has left me more jaded and pretentious then usual.
Comments (0) | Permalink

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

   Testing, testing...
Well, I'll just write some stuff to see how this thing works. It's Valentine's day today. Bad. I probably shouldn't swear on this page, so I'll just mentally insert an appropriate expletive. I'm usually indifferent to commercialised celebrations like this. This year I'm lonely and bitter at the world in general. *Sigh*.

I...have sketches. Admittedly they're stuff from 'Demon Diary' (Eclipse, Raenef, and Erutis) and I'm hardly doing the manga-ka justice, but they're alright. I've had little to no time to work on things I started literally months ago - even if they were/are just scraps. I *really* want to do some 'Yami no Matsuei' stuff, but am put off by my the look of other people's stuff (i.e. beautiful). I have something of an inferiority complex.

My original stuff is looking alright, although I never intended to do it 'manga-esque', because my original fiction (for which the pictures are illustrations) isn't manga. Or even close to being so. I need much more pratice in different styles.

Unfortunately, I've wound up with two of my original characters looking way too much like an amalgamation of any yaoi couple you'd care to mention. Which is *really* not what they're supposed to look like. Believe me, these gents and their cohorts have been in my head and in my fiction for a while now - I know what they're *meant* to look like, it's just a case of drawing them correctly.

I'm in the process of writing an article, in between important college work. Well, to be fair I'm in the process of writing several articles/reviews and considering which I'll post in the hope of getting it recognised. I'll check through what else is available first, as I don't want to go over ground someone else has covered; like fanfiction, for example.
Comments (0) | Permalink