Tuesday, August 15, 2006

OTAKON PIXCHERS!!111ONEONEBREAD
Two things first.
1) Our obnoxious neighbors wth the loud music, noisy vehicles and random drunken shouting? They got a dog. A rott/pit mix. And they seem to have taken to leaving it out in the front yard--loose. With no supervision. I'm calling the police next time they have a party, just you watch. I hope they get caught for drug possession and sent to jail so they stop bothering us! GRR!
2) Got a new pillows album at Otakon called "Thank you, my twilight". It's great, one of their best albums in my opinion. Right up there with Runner's High and Penalty Life. And it's got Biscuit Hammer on it, and you simply cannot go wrong with Biscuit Hammer.

On to the pictures! In no particular order.

To start things off, a few pictures of my friends. These two guys are friends of John, whom I met at Japanese classes a couple years ago. The one on the left I met at Katsucon as well. This is the infamous Jenny, dressed as Tiffa. I signed her pants. No pictures of Ashley because she's shy. And didn't do anything crazy-looking.
Of course, of course, the pictures of me and Exo. To start off, here's Exo, looking moody. I think he was just tired, since it was Sunday. And then there's me, dressed as a pirate wench. I had a necklace on too but it got itchy. And here we are together on Saturday. Exo is Daitokuji and I am Mine. Collective AWWW time! Yes, we are adorable, mwahaha. Oh, yeah, and a random picture of me doing what I do best--playing with my hair.

Onto the cosplayers!

This guy was awesome. He collected stuff for his Katamari from people. That is a picture from Friday, and here is one from Sunday. Lots of love. And, to go with the Prince, here is the Queen of All Cosmos. There was a King as well, but that picture is on Ashley's camera and I may never get it.

In continuing with the gaming theme, here are some awesome pictures of a few groups of SCIII characters. Tira, the one with the ring, is my favorite. ^_^ She's wonderfully insane.

Also along the gaming line, we've got the obligatory FF cosplayers. I liked the idea, the chocobo and the moogle. Very cute. There was also a huge gathering of FF cosplayers that I have some pictures of, but it's nothing you can't imagine for yourself with ease. And then there were the occasional .hack gangs. Or the occasional lone one.

Now, what photo shoot would be complete without a few FMA-ers? There weren't many impressive ones, but there were a couple that got very into character, and then one who chose an underappreciated character. Is it wrong for me to think Nina-chimera is cute? And, of course, Riza needs some love.

Then come the odd combinations. First we have Guu from Hare + Guu (Jungle Wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu), complete with optional fro and looking appropriately sullen, alongside a rather trendy Hughes. Then comes Haruhara Haruko, Tim, and some guy, all together. Hooray for diversity!

And again, Otakon pictures would be incomplete without a slew of girls dressed as male characters. So here it comes. First up is a crappy picture of Hare with a giant Pokuto. It's a shame I suck at photography, because that was a great costume, so cute. Then there's Ritsuka from Loveless. She asked me when I took the picture if I knew who she was, and I held up my recent purchase of a Loveless folder with Ritsuka on it. We laughed. Then two more from Loveless, Yohji and Natsuo. I love those two! Then there's the obligatory Shuichi, only this one was really good. I loved the hair, it looked properly messy. (The writing on Kumagorou says "Itaiii!" with some sort of symbol or something under it.) And then one of the better Kuramas I've seen! The first one I've photographed, anyway. And I think this D is a girl... He/she/it had a kind of feminine voice. I wasn't paying enough attention.

And then there are the non-anime ones! Well, actually this first one of Speed Racer and Racer X is anime-related, but not so popular for cosplaying. That picture was for my mum. And then there's this awesome Westley. I asked him if I could take his picture, and he said, "As you wish." I fangirled. And here is Snake with a crab. I don't even know the joke behind this one, but it was Baltimore so any and all crabs are automatically funny. Let's face it, most of us otaku have been on Gaia at least once before running in fear, so a rather militant Gino was not out of place. She gave me a G-pin. ^_^ And naturally there were a handful of Neos, but none quite so in character as this one. And, the creme de la creme. Hard Gay cosplayer. FTW.

Ah, but what of the inanimate objects? Actually you probably didn't ask that, but that's okay. I'll show you a few highlights anyway. This Scarecrow was easy to spot above the crowd, which thankfully made it easier to photograph too. And this? It was all I could do to keep from leaping over the rope and smothering life-size Ed.

That's all the best ones! Hope you enjoyed my disjointed presentation. :P
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Sunday, August 13, 2006

Well, we were going to go to the fair today, but Yuki has a cold and I have cramps so we opted to stay home and lie around. I did some studying so now I can remember all the number kanji. Yay, I'm catching up with where I was last summer. -_-

I also got myself a new computer game--Morrowind, GotY edition which means it comes with two expansions. It's pretty good for a few-years-old game that cost $20 at Best Buy. There are some glitches and things, and the controls are sticky, but it's interesting and the music is great. It's hard to get used to the idea that I can't just go around taking stuff from houses--if I do I get arrested and/or attacked by the owner. I like the alchemy system, and also the way the monsters level up along with you so theoretically you should be able to beat whatever wild monster you encounter. It also means you have to level up carefully so that the right stats are increased. Kinda confusing. Graphics are sub-par, but it's a bit old so I can forgive it.

Ever had a dream in another language? It happened to me about a month ago. I had a dream in Japanese. It wasn't complicated--just a few little phrases. Funny though. Just thought I'd mention that.

And my sleep pattern is all messed up. Great. :P
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Thursday, August 10, 2006

There's a Japanese Person Living in My House
TheFourthSheep: o dude u should so take Yukie to the county fair
TheFourthSheep: let her see all the farm ppl
AnimeNToast: when we were saying Kage's name, Yuki thought we said "Hage" which means bald
TheFourthSheep: lol
AnimeNToast: and we're trying not to scare her out of the country, Lisa

That's right, Yukie/Yuki is here! And I'm going to call Kage "Hage" from now on. She is sort of bald after being spayed.

So Yuki gave me some FMA manga and the family a beautiful doll her grandma made. She's soooo sweet. Yuki, not the doll. I don't know the doll very personally yet. I think she will be a very good influence for me. She already got me to help with dinner, which led to me cutting my finger while slicing meat. Only a big deal because it's been forever since I got hurt cooking (forever since I did much cooking at all, really). No blood or anything. Damn that's a nice knife though, jeez.

Now we will eat some stir-fry and wait for my dad to get home. This is so exciting. ^.^
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An Annoying Rant You Don't Have to Read
All right. All right. I know these things are probably annoying to long-time readers, but I've gotta do it again. An anti-abortion rant. The rage compels me. Be prepared for angry incohesiveness.

Mmkay, so I'm on Gaia, ladida, I always get pissed off on Gaia but I think it's good for me to sort out my beliefs at least (ignore run-on sentences :P). Anyway, this person has an icon in her sig that says, "A gift coerced is not a gift," with a picture of a woman and her baby all happiful. I snapped. I am really sick and tired of this victimization shit from the pro-choicers. "Oh wah, I didn't wanna have a baby, I just wanted teh sexx0rz!!11 Oh wah, I'm being FORCED to have a baby! Give women more power, wah wah wah." People. They invented condoms and birth control for a reason. In fact, the best way to not have kids is to not have sex! And if you're raped? Tough luck, don't go taking out your anger at the rapist on the poor kid. That's just selfish! And I don't care how old you are! It's not okay for you to kill a born person at 13, it's not okay for you to kill an unborn person at 13. Because that's what abortion is. Killing. Don't argue or I will talk your ear off explaining to you how scientifically a fetus is a separate human being.
And guess what, genius, often it's the father who wants the mother to have an abortion. In fact the family or father may COERCE the mother to abort her child. So stop whining about how women's freedom is being encroached upon and start giving a shit about the lives of millions of babies. Slightly more pressing matter, love. And women have plenty of freedom. In fact, they are quickly taking over men. Don't even get me started on how men are being portrayed as stupid pigs on pretty much every sitcom and cable TV show known to humankind.
And the "gift" shit? Since when does a person have to be a "gift" to have value? I can't even begin to fathom this line.
So stop whining about women's rights, about rapists, and about education. We're talking about life here, so get over it, you pansies. And BTW there are countless schools and institutions offering support for teenage mothers, so don't act like you get the short end of the stick. Because when you have an abortion, your baby gets the short end of the stick. And you don't get a second chance to have that kid, but you can go back to school any time you want with the help of special educational programs.

In closing, STOP KILLING BABIES. AND EVERYONE ELSE TOO.
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Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Odds and Ends
Today was my date with Exo-chan... :3 Hee hee. We saw fishies at the aquarium! And then spent most of our money on a game in the mall trying to win a PSP. Good times, good times. And some random girl in the mall asked me where I got the pins on my bag (Yuki and Shuichi, manga-style!) and ended up with my cell phone number. She was a little odd but I figure it can't hurt. She didn't look like a furry...

(Please note, the only reason I am prejudiced against furries is that the ones I meet tend to be a little too eager to make me one too. Your fetishes are fine, just don't try to push them on other people. Same with religion, musical taste, etc. I don't try to get other people interested in yaoi, it just happens.)

Pictures are not quite ready. I need to get the ones off of my camera, which my mother has hidden somewhere inadvertantly.

I also just installed Computones on my computer from a free CD with a HTDM book I got for that sole purpose. I like it a lot, I just wish there was more of a variety of dot tones. Anyone know where to get .tdt or .tst files?

Oh, recently I've been having this huge craving for virtual pet websites--other than Neopets, because Neopets was great until they went all merchandised and crappy. And also now that I've grown up some the many censor-type things are quite annoying. also, the chats are nothing but idiots. Not even entertaining idiots, like on Gaia. SOOO, I found a few other ones, Subeta and Nutrinopets. Subeta ish way to slow for my tastes, and Nutrinopets needs to get its game system back up, but they're both okay. Oh, and if anyone has any suggestions for good dress-up games (aside from the famous Elouai Candybar) or free RPGs (aside from Runescape, uck), please shoot'em this way. That is all for now.
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Monday, August 7, 2006

=_= Otakon, yays. So tired. Gaaaahhh.

Okay. Let's get the not-so-great things out of the way first. I did not see Makoto Tateno or Yoshiki because of scheduling issues and desire to sleep. I left my Mine outfit at the hotel, but we're in the process of getting it back (hopefully). And the infamous nekoboi found me. Awkward to the extreme. You remember him? The one I met at Katsucon and then he never emailed me again after I mentioned I had a boyfriend and I was like SCORE I got rid of him! But he found me. T_T But, anyway! Good things abounded.

It was too hot all four days, but it did cool down gradually over the course of the weekend. On Thursday we got our membership badges. Mine was Alucard. ^_^ Delightfully scary-looking.

On Friday we went to the Gaia panel which was hilarious. We also raided the dealer's room in the first of three sprees, and found Jenny and co. for entertainment. In the evening we were wandering around bored and briefly met up with John and Brian and their friends, and then they disappeared into the rave so we started looking for something to do--and stumbled across the Friday showing if the FMA movie, only a few minutes in! AND there were seats!! Oh man, it was so good. I'm glad I waited until the official dub came out, since the only bootleg I have is total crap. (Small spoiler warning begins now.) And it was great to see it in such a large group--whenever anyone's favorite character made an appearance he or she would scream, so of course it was very loud in there when Hughes showed up. And I guess I like Wrath a little more now. I still think he's a whiny brat, but he's more useful than Winry. Gawd Winry annoyed the crap out of me. Yay for going back to Germany where at least there's a chance Winry's counterpart is less annoying, w007. We also saw it on Saturday, which was really useful because I could start noticing more details. There was a line that confused the crap out of me--"There was a suit of armor walking beside you, and you looking up ____ a smiling face. That must have been your mother." I thought that word was "with", which would mean Noah was for some reason assuming Ed's mother was a suit of armor. It was "at" though, I believe. I also noticed the carvings in the underground city, which included an image of a large monster-like creature eating someone in a suspiciously familiar pose. A few questions remain for me though. (Larger spoiler warning begins now.) Both have to do with being eaten. First: How did Wrath talk when his lungs were basically crushed? Second: How the hell does Ho-Ho have so much blood in him?! It was like a freaking explosion of blood--FWOOSH. But yeah. Favorite moments: Al in suit-of-armor form hugging Ed half to death; Al popping out of suit of armor at the end; random appearance of Scar's and Lust's counterparts. Also, I could not look at Envy-dragon seriously after seeing the FMA Chibi Party short. I just kept imagining Envy flipping his hair back, surrounded by sparkles, going, "Atsukattaaa!" Hee hee, everyone is gay for Envy.
Now I will never be able to sit through history classes with a straight face again. It was bad enough when I couldn't think of anything soncerning the Meiji Restoration without thinking of Kenshin, but now I won't be able to think of WWII without thinking of Ed face-to-face with Hitler and Hughes being a Nazi. Oi.
End spoiler warnings now. :3

On Saturday we also went to the Gaia social and got Lanzer's autograph but no free stuff. It was fun standing in the ginormous crowd though. And it was very funny when I randomly looked over to my left and saw one of my friends from Gaia whom I met at Katsucon.

On Friday we saw the Hard Gay cosplayer, standing about two feet away from me and yet I could not see him until it was too late (I'm a loser :P). But we did find him again in the Gaia crowd and got pictures, which I need to get from Exo. Yeah, no pictures until I've gotten the ones from Exo that I asked him to take, since my mom took the camera hostage on Saturday.

Then Saturday night we went to fan parodies, always fun. The ones from the 80s though were not really all that funny... Except for the video glitch. ^_^U I did get to see Nescaflowne for the first time, yays.

Other notable cosplayers, besides Hard Gay: the guy dressed as the Prince, carrying a Katamari to which he stuck any donated items with duct tape; a Ritsuka cosplayer pretty much covered in randomly placed bandages, one of which said "Soubi" on it (so cute!!); many Tira cosplayers, my favorite one being the one with Bifrost; a woman dressed as Nina+Alexander with a matching plushie, so sad but so cute; and others that I forget at the moment. You'll see pictures.

So I went a little crazy and bought a lot of stuff. I can't even begin to list it all, really. I did get Exo an awesome collar and a pair of wings that everyone kept complimenting. :3 Also some manga, many figurines, a few plushies, a messenger bag for school, a mouse pad, and 5 T-shirts. Details later maybe. I run out of energy quickly when posting...

Well, it's good to be home again. It's also really nice to relax. Otakon was so hectic. Tomorrow I'm going to Baltimore to hang with Exo before he goes home on Wednesday. ;_; But Thursday is when Yukie is coming! I can't wait. ^.^ New friends, yay!
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Sunday, July 30, 2006

Itetetetetete!! (Courtesy of "Moon Child")
Great news, everyone! This morning I woke up with an ache in my right kidney area! I might have a kidney stone or some kind of infection, or it could just be a pulled lower back muscle! WHOO! Just in time for Otakon!
Also, today I forgot to eat and then played DDR on the very hot back porch. I was laying a song that's usually easy for me ("Sana Morette Ni Ente" on standard) and then just got really confused at the end. I sat down and then had a really hard time standing up. So I tried to find food and ended up getting so frustrated and confused that I just leaned against the door and cried. My mom made me some food and now I'm feeling better, but heed this tale--don't forget to eat, especially before playing DDR.

So my office is a wreck now since we're moving all my stuff out to make room for Yukie. My computer's in my mom's office now so I get less privacy. ;_; Aw damn, no more porn. Actually all I have to do is put some of the naughtier fanart in a zipped passworded folder with an ambiguous name. *sigh* I'm such a loser. Oh well. Everyone's got a fetish; mine just involves short blondes and maid outfits. Is that more about me than you wanted to know? GOOD! ^w^ I like scaring people. Now I will go write a shopping list for Otakon and call Ashley about a pirate costume.
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Friday, July 28, 2006

The D Stands for Awesome
(Did I already do a post once with that title? I don't know, but I love saying it randomly. Especially during V for Vendetta commercials.)
I was bored and looking through my anime DVDs for things with outtakes and discovered that Pet Shop of Horrors had a commentary track I had never listened to. So I popped it in, started it up, and it was immediately quite funny. I found it slightly irritating, however, when the actors would talk as though the series consisted only of those four episodes, which were, granted, the only ones made into anime. I would make little comments about things you discover in the manga and laugh because they didn't know them. Then, As I turned it off, I suddenly remembered--they recorded not only the dub but also the commentary at least five years ago. The manga wasn't even translated by that point. The anime was dubbed before the manga was ranslated--and in such a brief and USA-obscure series! This amazed me. It makes me glad though that the manga did come out here in America because I adore it and it was what spurred me to buy the anime. I recommend Pet Shop of Horrors for any manga reader, new or veteran, male or female, any walk of life. It's one of those few manga that is really universally intriguing. Even though I like to go on and on about how D and Leon make a great couple, there isn't any substantial evidence in the manga or anime that this was intended to be the case (although I'm sure the author played with the idea a bit). You have to remember, if I recommend an anime and also rave about yaoi in it, that doesn't mean it's supposed to be there. I like to come up with couple, improbable and canon, in anything I watch, because that's part of being a yaoi fangirl.
So yeah, aside from that one kissing scene (omg they kept it in for the dub! o_o I am shocked and pleased) and the odd relationship between Haku and Zabuza, Naruto is safe for homophobes. Oh, Haku, my favorite little pretty ninja. I will find cosplayers of you at Otakon. Maybe some more like the one at Katsucon, where Zabuza had Haku on a little pink leash. So cute!
Tangents are fun and help me to post more than one or two lines! Whee.
"I sat on my fruit tart." -Count D, sort of
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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Okay folks (folk?), I am considering either writing an all-text article or asking for permission to use pictures concerning the Alchemical Symbol post I did a while back. It's really interesting information and is useful for when you want to refer to certain images ("flamel" is much easier than "winged crown snake cross thing", isn't it?). Also, I appreciate a writer who does his or her homework before writing something, and Hiromu Arakawa is a prime example. So which do you think I should do? Write various websites and the publisher of my little alchemy guide for permission, or just go text-based?

I'm also considering compiling information on alchemy references in Yugioh GX with the help of Exo. Sound cool? I hope it will be.

Even if I don't really believe, per se, in mystic things like modern alchemy or astrology or chanelling the spirits of the dead, it's fun to look at the history and basis of such ideas. Alchemy is especially exciting because of the ways I can relate it to anime I love. That's what made me so interested in German--my love for Weiss Kreuz which was mostly spawned by simply jawdropping fanfic and not by the show itself (sometimes I even confuse the storylines of the two), but still. I am an academic at heart, and love to learn, especially about useless stuff like alchemy. Then again, "useless" is all based on perspective... I'd like to see the other side of the Gate sometime, check up Ed's grandkids, transmute a toaster using the energy of my many dead hamsters. I suppose I'll go there someday, when I die and somebody uses me to fix a window or make hair dye. OH BOY, I CAN'T WAIT!

I digress. It's what I do. Anyway, I've just discovered a very good book, and if I still like it when I'm done I'll give you guys a title and author. Ciao.
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Monday, July 24, 2006

What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love
I have a question for the masses... Why the Pirate Vs. Ninja debate/war/apocalyptic occurrence? I mean, there is really no comparison. It's not even apples and oranges--it's more like apples and hedgehogs. Pirates kill and pillage and rape for fun, and get drunk a lot, and smell terrible, and have really awesome accents. Ninjas kill subtly and for hire, probably have such high resistance to alcohol they can't get drunk, smell like nothing at all, and rarely talk. Pirates wear flashy, baggy clothes and use guns or sabres as their weapons of choice, while ninjas wear snug, camouflaging clothes and use weapons such as small throwing stars or knives, poison, wire, or other inconspicuous items. Pirates sing a lot, if badly. I've never heard a ninja sing in all my years. Pirates travel all over the world in their ships, but ninjas are pretty much exclusive to Japan and surrounding areas.
So why try to decide which is better? I like them both equally, but I just make a better pirate. I'm a bawdy sort of person. I think that pirates and ninjas and their respective vouchers should give it a rest and get back to their jobs and/or hobbies.
Although I probably should add that ninjas never got an immensely popular operetta full of patter songs and puns and paradox--most ingenious paradox, I might add. Pirates did. So there.
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