Monday, June 19, 2006

the children's laughter filled my heart up like a second helping
Because I feel I should do this sort of thing more often, for each day for the rest of this week, I will feature one anime I've recently watched or am currently watching.

Today's Anime: The Diary of Tortov Roddle

This is a 15-minute short about the travels of a man named Tortov Roddle and the various things he encounters along the way. It's done in the style of a silent film, complete with screens of text to show the character's thoughts. (One of which can be seen in the third screencap below.)

The general mood of this piece reminds me a bit of the lighter episodes of Kino's Journey, but with the fantastical and ethereal touch present in Mushishi.

What sticks out most, however, is not the story but the intriguing art and animation. It's completely unlike any other anime I've seen; in fact, it's much more reminiscent of some experimental styles of European animation.

The music is gorgeous as well, and complements the scenes perfectly. My favorite piece is the quiet piano solo used in the second segment.

It seems that the only way to get ahold of this is by downloading it through BitTorrent. (I'm currently seeding it, so get it while you can.) There is also a bonus segment, with slightly different animation, which you can find on YouTube.

I highly recommend everyone watch this, as animation rarely ever achieves so much in fifteen short minutes. Also, if anyone can point me towards more animated shorts such as this one, I'd greatly appreciate it.

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Sunday, June 18, 2006

Oh They Are Going To Be Ever So Happy Together, Or They Would Be If They Weren't Totally Doomed.
The Death Note movie was released yesterday! (Though sadly, it will probably be a while until us Americans will be able to see it.)

To celebrate, and in an effort to continue spamming you all with YouTube vids, here's a couple of Ryuk-centric scenes. The second one features a commercial with Misa, who looks absolutely adorable. :)

Also, you can see a summary of the movie here, written by a fan who has already seen the movie in Japan. They change a few very important things from the manga, but overall, the material seems well-handled. I can't wait to see it!

EDIT: Immediately, Matsuyama never skips a beat as L... Seeing him sit is AWESOME - he sort of just LEAPS into the chair and curls up his legs in one fluid motion.

EEEE, HOW CUTE! Man, I wish I had my own personal L. I'd take such good care of him.
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Friday, June 16, 2006

As personal as I'll ever be on this site...
(Very personal post ahead. Tread gently.)

Recent events in my life, spanning over the course of months, has prompted me to write this.

I was recently reminded of a quote said in an interview with Matt Stone in the documentary Bowling for Columbine, the gist of it being, "Schools beat it into kids' heads as early as sixth grade that if you fuck up now, then you'll be a failure forever." And for me, life has worked much in the same way.

I've applied and tested to every single school I've ever attended, including elementary school. Yet even so, the first four or so years were really great. When I occasionally received a bad grade, my parents didn't take it to heart, because it didn't really matter in the long run. But in sixth grade, things changed. It was the year in which we would "graduate" from elementary school, and in order to get into a well-respected middle school, you needed to have good attendence, good test scores, and seemingly above all, good grades.

And then suddenly, getting anything below a B was a terrible crime. The class was constantly anxious for an entire year, and perhaps because I couldn't handle the pressure, my History grade slipped and I got a D for the first time in a long time. Soon afterwards, that D prevented me from getting into my first choice middle school, and when my mother found out, she yelled at me the entire night before eventually storming out of the house. I cried for hours, terribly frightened, because it was the first time my mother had ever been so angry at me.

Luckily, I managed to get into my second choice school, and at the start of 7th grade, I thought I could finally take a breather from all the stress piled up in the previous year. But on the first day of school, the administration made it very clear to me how I wrong I was. According to them, when applying to high schools, the admissions board checks both 7th and 8th grade report cards, so I was thrust back into constant anxiety, except this time, the pressure was much worse.

I remember one instance in which my homeroom teacher informed the class that "in order to get into the top-tier schools, you need straight A's." Which I later found out to be total bullcrap, but I didn't know that at the time, so the information only made me worry more about the competition.

Things went a little better for me this time, and in 8th grade, after months of testing, I got accepted into my first choice high school. At the time, my junior and senior years seemed so far ahead, and of course, I thought I could finally relax.

During freshmen orientation, the faculty gathered the class into the auditorium, and the first order of business was a short lecture, which I've nicknamed "High School GPA and YOU." In a nutshell, they explained that if you mess up your grades during your freshmen or sophomore or junior year, it will haunt you for the rest of your high school life.

And then you won't get into a good college.

And then you can't become a fabulously rich doctor.

Before I continue, let me get one thing across--I adore my high school. A few of the teachers are asshats, but the students are such incredible people, so talented and kind, and the school allows their students such freedom. I really couldn't ask for more. Yet despite that, this sophomore year was easily the most stressful school year I've ever had. (Though admittedly, it was mostly my own fault.)

I simply cannot be enthusiastic about a process I've become so sick of. These past five years have made me weary, and I no longer take any sort of pleasure in getting good grades for the sake of getting good grades. (Though I do it anyway, because failing every course certainly won't make the situation better.)

There are already so many things I want to do and accomplish in life, and I no longer see any merit in working hard in classes that won't at all help me attain those goals.

And most of all, I've grown tired. I'm tired of the constant stress and worry, I'm tired of my mother's reminders of "my responsibility as a student," and I'm tired of my brother constantly nagging me to take more AP classes. I'm tired of a lot of things related to school, and I can only wonder what will become of me next year.
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Tuesday, June 13, 2006

asdfghjkl;OMG
OH EM GEE, YOU GUYS! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I found it! I finally found it! After literally searching for YEARS, I finally found a complete video of L'Arc~en~Ciel's Budokan performance of DUNE!

Each time I tried to download this, it was always cut in half for some reason, but I finally found the whole thing. I guess this is as good a time as any to profess my undying love for YouTube and its generous supply of rare J-Rock vids. *marries YouTube*

Anyway, here's the unholy goodness of the performance for your viewing pleasure.

First, I feel I should warn you that this is olden L'Arc: Tetsu has long hair, Ken acts somewhat fruity, Sakura is buff like WOAH, and Hyde still looks like a girl and flounces around the stage in an incredibly girly manner. It can be a little off-putting to people who aren't used to seeing them this way (since they're MANLY now), so just don't say I didn't warn you.

The second half really reminds me of why I love Sakura Era L'Arc so much. Honestly, nowadays, their concerts aren't NEARLY as lively and fun as the one shown here. They don't even prompt the audience to sing the lyrics to the songs anymore, for whatever reason. I still regret the fact that I never attended their older concerts, because they're different people now, and in all likeliness, they'll never have performances like this again.

In any case, I'm veeeeeery happy that YouTube exists right now. Really.

All that aside, on the article front, I finally started on the debate collab with the rest of SOAP. It'll probably end up taking at least a week to get the whole thing done, but it should prove rather interesting. :)

Lastly, Finals are pretty much over for me. A word to the wise: no matter how good of a memory you have, don't EVER try to cram 140 kanji in less than two hours. In fact, don't ever try to cram as much as I do, period.
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Monday, June 12, 2006

An AU Fanfic in the Making?
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you. It's about... Itachi." Sasuke's eyes snapped over to her, and Sakura continued to stare at the ground, avoiding his gaze. "He's different, Sasuke."

"And?" His voice had suddenly become frigid, like bits of ice prickling her skin.

"And, well, he scares people sometimes. He has such cold, frightening eyes, and aside from you, he rarely speaks to anyone, not even his own parents. Even the adults seem like they're afraid of him--as if he were some kind of monster." Sakura shielded herself and waited for Sasuke to respond, but he remained silent. His bangs shielded his face from Sakura's view.

"He's your brother, so I could understand why you can be defensive of him," her voice trembled slightly, and she gulped nervously, trying to make it stop, "But you're so fiercely loyal to him. You're like a completely different person whenever he's around, and you're so willing to do whatever he tells you. And sometimes, after talking to him, you look at us with the same cold eyes he does, and it worries me that one day you might-" The grass rustled beside her as Sasuke stood up, but Sakura clung to his hand before he could attempt to leave. "Sasuke, I-"

"Shut up." Sasuke jerked his hand from her grasp. Sakura felt tears well up in her eyes, blurring the image of Sasuke's retreating figure. But she didn't dare say a word.

---

Hm. This is turning out interesting.

EDIT: A scene that takes place a little later...

Sasuke watched Sakura walk away until she was a dot against the horizon. He turned away from the door, but froze once he heard a voice ask, "Do you love her?"

Sasuke recognized the speaker immediately--and he knew of only one person who could casually ask such a bold, invasive question.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Don't avoid the question."

Sasuke turned towards his brother, visibly annoyed, and snappily responded, "Of course not, she's just a friend."

"You can still love a friend, little brother."

For a moment, Sasuke was genuinely surprised at the seriousness of his brother's tone, and before the boy could stop himself, he asked, "How would you know?"

Itachi didn't respond. Minutes passed by in total silence, and Sasuke quickly begun to feel anxious under the scrutiny of his brother's intense gaze. As a child, Sasuke learned that even without the Sharingan, Itachi's eyes could see everything, and he was the dissected lab rat, his deepest thoughts exposed for the whole world to see.

Eventually, Itachi's gaze softened, and he gently pushed himself off the wall, but not before adding, "Be careful with whom you choose to care for. Friendship can be a very dangerous thing."

---

Good Christ, why did that take so long to write? *writer's angst*
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Saturday, June 10, 2006

On a somewhat Rose of Versailles related note...
I'll probably end up watching this film no matter what, considering how fascinating I find Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution in general. (Which I think I've made rather obvious, seeing as how I've already referenced to it twice in my articles!)

Geeky Things I Took Note Of: Judging from her pale hair color, that last scene of the trailer probably takes place during the last years of Marie Antoinette's life, when she was in terrible physical condition. Also, there's a scene early on where a woman in a red dress brushes past Marie Antoinette's shoulder, and I think it's safe to assume that that woman is Madame du Barry. And the young nobleman who appears near the end is quite obviously Axel von Fersen.

From what can be seen, this seems to be a film that takes place in a French setting, but has a very American spirit to it. In other words, it probably won't be terribly informative, but it will at least have a lot of style to it.
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Thursday, June 8, 2006

Rose of Versailles: The Musical!
As performed by the Takurazuka troupe in 1989.

It seems that episode 9 of Ouran HS Host Club was right on the mark with the whole manly singing voice thing and the yuri fanservice. XD

Now, compare that to the new 2006 RoV production. I actually like this one better, mostly because the new Andre is really hot. Seriously.

Look, everyone, it's General de Jarjeyes! XD

Anyway, I found another thing of interest on McVarmazi's RoV fansite Glory. (As a note, I first knew of McVarmazi through the J-Rock fandom. Turns out that not only is she a huge Gackt fan, but she's a huge RoV fan as well. Small e-world.) It's an mp3 of Lareine's cover of the opening theme song. It's really interesting, actually. If you ever wanted to hear what a 70's J-Pop song would sound like with contemporary J-Rock influences, then look no further.
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Saturday, June 3, 2006

Ardente veritate. Incendite tenebras mundi.
I just watched the baseball episode of Samurai Champloo, and damn was it funny! I like how they portrayed those bastard American imperialists. XD

The whole episode actually reminded me of the storyline of a Bollywood film called Lagaan, where a group of Indians won their freedom from bastard British imperialists through a game of cricket. Makes me wonder if the writers watched the film or something.

Anyway, GameTrailers.com recently posted their coverage of the Play! concert, as well as the autograph signing held the day before. Near the end of the autograph signing vid, when they show a group of fans performing a song for Uematsu, you can see me way in the background behind the girl with the blue shirt. :3

They also have a fantastic behind-the-scenes feature of the concert itself. Funny thing is, during the performance of One Winged Angel, I distinctly remember wondering if any of the choir members were gamers, and it turns out that a few of them are!
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Thursday, June 1, 2006

New layout! From pink to blue.

Note: The pics featured in the new profile banner were all taken from Princess Tutu. :)
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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

A few things:

I received my tickets for the upcoming Pillows' concert in the mail. (Yes, I know, another concert!)

Also, I found a very nice Princess Tutu AMV. And as a nice bonus, it makes very good use of the DVD special footage. I don't think it's on Youtube, though you can download it here.

Lastly, I was wandering around Youtube and stumbled upon this video. I actually first saw it months and months ago, and I recall how the DMC fandom exploded with nerdy glee upon its unveiling.

It's a live-action "screen test" of some of the moves featured in DMC3. (And the DMC series is known for its crazy assed moves.) Which basically means it's a video of people flying around on wires while swinging plastic swords. It's quite awesome. :3

I particularly like how they even act out the enemies' movements, flailing arms and all.
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