Thursday, April 20, 2006

ZOMG! Alchemy! Vol. 1
With the help of a friend (whom I affectionately call Elgie), I was able to piece together a great deal of information concerning various symbols used in FMA. You might have already figured this out, but I have pictures and I know how to use them. Even if they are mostly crapaliciously scanned and/or cropped. (You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a picture of an FMA flamel!)

1. The Flamel
If you're a true blue FMA fan you probably picked up somewhere that the cross with a snake, crown, and wings (pictured here) is called a flamel. You might not know, however, that it is a traditional alchemical symbol, or just what it means. I'm here to fix that. ^_^
Firstly, the flamel is often mistaken for what is known as the Hermetic staff or caduceus, often used by hospitals and health insurance companies. They do look quite similar, as demonstrated by this picture. The Hermetic staff is pictured in the center, a wingless flamel in the upper left corner.
Here is my picture, scanned sloppily from my beloved book Alchemy: The Great Secret by somebody whose name I can't find. Look it up, I'm sure you'll find it.
As you can see, this picture shows not only a flamel, but also a variation on a symbol we will discuss a little later.
As my lovely book says, "At center is a famous emblem called the 'crucified snake of Flamel,' a synoptic image that unites the symbols of sulfur and mercury, the opposing metals of fire (dryness) and fusibility (liquid) that together create gold (the Philosopher's Stone)." The union of sulfur and mercury is important, as I will explain in a later post when I get into actual alchemy.
So the original meaning of the flamel was simply a symbol for the Philosopher's Stone. FMA took it in a different direction and (spoiler, as if you haven't seen the whole series and all 3 movies already) incorporates it into the transmutation circle that "seals" a homunculus, preventing it from regenerating. This brings us to our next symbol.

2. The Ouroboros Tattoo
This was an immensely interesting subject to look into because the Ouroboros appears in several different cultures with almost exactly the same meaning, which resulted in a number of different representations of it.
So, what is an Ouroboros anyway? It's a dragon or serpent depicted as eating its own tail, and it symbolizes eternity, the lack of a beginning or end. As a site that Elgie found and therefore didn't give me the address of says, "Four of the continents of the world have had cultures that depicted this creature. In Asia, India and Japan both have had this creature appear. In Egypt, this creature appears, perhaps for the first time and is introduced to Greece. It is also interesting to see that Ouroboros was absorbed into Norse mythology as Jormungand, although this dragon does not hold the same symbolism as most Ourobori. However, the most noted use and origin of this dragon is alchemy; one of the most famous pictures of Ouroboros is from Cleopatra's Chrysopoeia, which means 'Gold-making'." (Please don't sue me for not citing you properly, mystery site! T_T)
This gets us halfway through understand the homunculi's strange tattoo. But what's that Star of David doing there? Well, for one thing, it's not a Star of David, at least in meaning (so stop asking me about my necklace, stupid frosh! I'm not Jewish! Or a Nazi!). By itself, it is often interpreted as the Mark of the Beast or part of a curse, which is fitting for homunculi. However, paired with the Ouroboros, as it can be traditionally found, it has an entirely different meaning which serves to enforce the symbolism of the Ouroboros itself.
"The six-pointed star is found in symbolical representations of the earliest cosmogonies. When the six-pointed star is formed of two interlaced equilateral triangles -- one light with the apex pointing upward, the other dark with the apex pointing downward, both triangles being symmetrically placed with regard to one central point -- and the double figure is surrounded by a circle, the sign represents the universe, spirit and matter, the alpha and omega in the cosmos, and involution and evolution. In the Qabbalistic presentation of the figure, instead of a circle surrounding the star a serpent is portrayed as swallowing its tail, as in the seal of the Theosophical Society." (Found here.)
I know, lots of big words. Basically what it means is that the symbol is the composition of a light triangle pointing up (sun-man) and a dark triangle pointing down (moon-woman), surrounded by a circle, or in the Qabbalistic style, by an Ouroboros. Elgie found some nice pictures for me, one of the Qabbalistic style and one that looks as though it would be used in alchemy because it is interspersed with the symbols of the seven planetary gods, common symbols in alchemical works.
So, since the symbol incorporates several themes prevalent in alchemy, it is appropriate for creatures created by alchemy, and its individual components make it even moreso. The Ouroboros represents the supposedly unending life of a homunculus, and the Mark of the Beast signifies their inherently evil nature.

3. The Chimera
This was a bit of a wild goose chase. At first I found this picture in two books on traditional alchemy, and immediately thought of the symbol used by the state military. Unfortunately, as you can see, when comparing them side by side there is little similarity. Thank you again, Elgie, who copied a passage from a magazine that properly identified the symbol.
"Chimera, according to the Greek mythology, was the daughter of Echidna and Typhon. Chimera had the head of the lion, the body of the goat and the hindquarters of the snake. ... The term 'chimera' is often used metaphorically to describe things that have combined attributes from different sources. One example would be the horrific creations of the Sewing Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker."
It was difficult to find a picture of a real traditional chimera; the term has become so muddled these days that there are two "correct" interpretations of its appearance. The first and most common is the one I grew up with--a lion's head and body, a goat's head protruding from its back, and a snake for a tail. However, the military uses a different and more accurate depiction. The best picture I could dig up was a logo, so ignore the globe. And, uh, thanks, I guess, to Chimera Travel.

4. The 8-Pointed Star
This one was of more personal interest to me because one rarely sees 8-pointed stars. In fact, flipping through my books on alchemy I found only 5- and 6-pointed stars. That is, until I stumbled across this little gem. It is also adorned with the symbols of the seven planetary gods, as well as an eighth symbol which appears to be just a simple circle.
Why did I care about the 8-pointed star? What does it have to do with FMA? Well, it started when Elgie suggested that the 6-pointed star was part of Al's blood seal. So I ran off and checked my jacket, and found that Al's blood seal is comprised mainly of not a 6-pointed but an 8-pointed star. Curious, I went on a search, and found the medal you see above. According to my favorite FMA site (now part of a group of sites titled Anime Indepth), the meaning of the 8-pointed star in FMA transmutation circles is "creation". So there it is.
EDIT (4/23): The same picture also appears in the Ready Steady Go opening sequence, right in the beginning before the perty flowers.

*deep breath* I hope that was worth your while. Soon I will do an article on Alchemy 101--the "real" stuff. It's an interesting culture, or science, or whatever you want to call it. See you next time.
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Monday, April 17, 2006

   The Holiday Rush
I have friends. ^_^
I'm currently doing a HaruxYuki RP with Elgie-chan. 'Tis fun. The Furuba boys are just so pair-uppable.
So how was everyone's Easter? Sugary? Good. I had brunch with the gramps and got a chance to read my grandma's book on alchemy. Great stuff. I should really look into it more. My grandparents are all doing okay so far, or at least as well as ever. I'm glad to still hav all four, and they're all interesting and fun people.
My avi art shop on Gaia got stampeded by customers over the weekend, though. Five or six of'em. It's killing me. >.< Some of them will be fun to draw, though. I love the guy avis all decked out in feminine or revealing clothes... It's like an army of slave-chibis. Eh-heh. I have problems.
So I've been thinking...about telling Jenny right-out that I like her. I don't really expect anything to come of it--we're both pretty happy with our social statuses right now. I just want her to know. Before she leaves and goes to college and I have to really work to see her face-to-face. *sigh* It's so sad that I've told everyone but her, and I guess it really isn't fair, and that's why she should know from me.
BLEARGH. It sucks to be a teenager. Why can't I have normal problems like taxes and annoying bosses and high cholesterol? I guess teenager-type problems are easier to get over, at least. Just wait till ya get to adulthood. Then all the other problems get small and insignificant and you have to work to put food on the table and keep from getting arrested. Ho-hum, life is rough. That's why I would never want eternal life. Seriously, that would suck. Being dead is much less responsibility.
Oh yeah, watched Jing: King of Bandits today. The second 2/3 of it at least. The end made me angry. Why'd he have to go and kiss her?! The guard kid would have made a much better match for her, stupid princess. *wants Jing for herself* Hmph. Why yes, petty jealousy is my specialty, thank you for asking.
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Monday, April 10, 2006

   What I Hate About the Internet
It's full of jerks and asses. I started an account at MapleStory today and I'm not even off the training island before some guy is following me around and stealing my kills. All I have to ask is...WHY? What is the point of annoying someone you don't even know? You don't even get to see the other person's reaction. I just don't get it.
Also I want this splitting headache to go away RIGHT NOW. OWIE.
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Thursday, April 6, 2006

   Nostalgie
So today I'm doing my monthly work of charity/actual housework and ended up rearranging the shelves in my bedroom to make room for more manga, dusting, and getting together old books to donate to a library in NO. In doing so I ran across some books I barely remembered, like the Dragonling series and Heartland. The former was one of my favorite series as a little kid (the books are intro-to-chapter-books length), and I really hope that some other kids love them too. They were very well-written, as I recall. Heartland was a bore, though. Maybe some horse-loving preteen girl will find them more interesting than I did. Then there was Deltora Quest, and a few others. Good books, most of them--just below my current reading level and practically memorized. I even ran across the first Magic Treehouse book... Anyone remember that series? It was very popular at the local library, I recall. Then again, there were a bunch of books I ordered from the Scholastic book club and never read, and some required reading books I never want to see again. Cough, Jacob Have I Loved, cough Cry, the Beloved Country, cough, The Black Pearl, and so on. I feel really good now, knowing that I'm giving people books I really enjoyed or that they may need for school, and not just a bunch of crap.

I also looked at the prices to see if I really remembered them correctly. Yup. There was a time not so long ago when a good book cost $5 or less. Last night I bought The Great Gatsby (school reading again, ugh), and it was $12-flippin'-95. The book is half the size of the average young adult novel, ladies and gents, and it cost more than the volume of Hana-Kimi that I bought, which not only is twice as long but had to be translated and has pictures on every page! I feel like a grandpa sitting in a rocking chair on the porch telling stories... But it's true, books used to be much cheaper.

Nostalgie, by the way, is the name of a piece of music from Magi Nation, one of my favorite classic Game Boy Color games. I remember that the sheet music was written in the instruction booklet so you could play it on a piano. That is a great game, right up there with Lunar Legend, I think. The sarcastic dialog was probably my favorite part. One line I distinctly remember was triggered by "looking" at a book case--"It's a book case. Full of booky goodness." There was even a scene where the character wanders into what he believes is a tool shed and is actually...well, we don't know for sure, but it's definitely not a tool shed! The gameplay was rather difficult though, so I stopped about halfway through. Fun music though, and nice graphics.

Since I'm talking about GBC games, I'd also like to toss in Dragon Warrior Monsters. I remember getting the game and finding the wrong game inside, so we had to drive all the way back and get it exchanged--and I bought it at Columbia Mall, which is a long drive. It was fun though. Never made it to the end, though, because just when I got close I lost the cartridge, and when I finally stumbled upon it again the saved game was gone. Very sad. Not a ton of replay value because of the issue of training (like Pokemon, only slower, ugh), but it was a very long game. I loved my monsters. I had a favorite three: a Rain Hawk for magic, a Great Drak for power, and a Unicorn for healing. Nice monster graphics, very pretty. Lots of hidden features, too, and side quests galore. It can get a little repetitive though, especially near the end while you're training for the tough bosses. Ah well. Good stuff.

Also, remember the awesome old YGO games? The ones where monster type actually mattered and you could cheat really easily and magic and trap cards didn't do shit... Old games rock, especially the ones with glitches! ^_^
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Wednesday, April 5, 2006

   Bouncing Around
*sigh* I just keep coming up with more characters for all my stories. I get bored in class, start drawing with a vague idea in mind, and suddenly there emerges a totally new being to take up a place in one of my many tales.
For instance, the other day in lit. class I started doodling (and doodles for me are actually often full-blown drawings, but on crap paper), because I wanted to draw a character with a black surgeon's mask type...thing. So I did, and of course it was another pretty boy, as my obsession with girly men is a bit overpowering, and he looked sort of evil. I thought, "Hey, he would be a good demon, I bet. And wasn't I toying with the idea of an assassin demon to go in my Raya story?" And so he took up that role and became an awesome assassin for Hell. His name is Zaphriel, and he's a fairly young demon. He's a Fallen, meaning he used to be an angel (many demons are simply spawned), but he was a member of the Second Era, as he Fell a long time after the Morningstar, during another period of many Falls about 3000 years ago. He's very emotionless and devoted to his task, a proper demon. He's also quite lovely, if I may say so myself. ^_^

That was a fun little stint of a paragraph...

I've been drawing a lot lately to vent my creativity since I'm still stuck in all my writing projects. I really need some reading material too. Once I'm done writing a paper on Tarzan of the Apes I'll start reading the sequels, but not until because I might start getting them all jumbled up. >.< I need something creative to do. I'd RP, but our group has an Australian in it so he's got a different time zone and is only on really late at night (for us Americans). Damn time zones. Stupid rotation of the Earth! Curse you! Cuuurse yooouuu!

Mm-hmm. I'm doing well in karate, both types, except now I've gone and misplaced my equipment. Damn. Also, I'd like to take up the guitar again. It's still sitting there in the corner with a broken string, waiting to be fixed, tuned, and played crappily until I teach myself a bit better. Bleehhh. All my personal projects are screeching to a halt, and none of them have started again except for Japanese because of Yukie. I am muey frustrated.

Holy crap, did I just remember some Spanish? All right, who's possessing me this time?!

And on a little side note, we had some weird-ass weather today. In five minutes it dropped nine degrees, then as we headed off for school it started to rain, then sleet, then snow, all at once, and then it stopped when we got to school (it's about an eight-minute trip), and the bleeding SUN came out. Jesus Almighty. *shakes head*
(Psst, I might start uploading art. Maybe. If you give me manga. *manga-loving drool*)
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Thursday, March 30, 2006

What kind of yaoi are you?

You're lemon yaoi. You are a perpetually horny freak. But hey, who cares, lemons are life.
Take this quiz!








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Hellz yeah. ^_^ Perpetually horny am I.

Anyway... Umm, I was going to say something but I forgotted! Oh well, enjoy what little I have to offer today.
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Saturday, March 25, 2006

I know you're all falling over yourselves with worry, but I'm okay. Just hasn't been a damn thing to talk about recently. ...I'm kinda giving up on the whole blog idea, really. No one reads it and it's not worth the effort... *sigh* But I'll stick around. No point in dumping the whole account.
Things have been fun. Mostly. Also kind of depressing. FMA is over so my weekends are no only boredom interspersed with sleep. The puppy is a pain in the ass (but she'll grow out of it eventually...I hope). I'm poor and not 18 yet. I'm failing religion. I may or may not get to go see Exo over spring break, because my parents haven't decided whether they want to make the trip or not. I've given up on Jenny because it really just isn't realistic--I've got a boyfriend, she's got a boyfriend, she's graduating this spring, I'm not... That, and my life is just boring the crap out of me. Oh well.
This bored, boring, pointless update brought to you by Shiroi Karasu, her angry mother, and diet cherry Pepsi.
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Sunday, March 19, 2006

I'm still here. Just finished the last ep of FMA. I don't know how I'll make it through the week now with nothing to look forward to...
I have a picture of Kage now that I might post soon. We'll see. I'm feeling very blase right now. :P
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Tuesday, March 7, 2006

PUPPY!
We got a puppy last night from one of my mom's friends from work who is a breeder. She's a sheltie, about 12 weeks old, and her name is Kage. She's sooo cute! ^_^
That is all. Yes, my life is that boring. XP
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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Much Ado About Very Little (as always)
Arrrgh. I just saw a commercial for some retarded-looking show called "Kappa Mikey". I'm not really sure what the premise of the show is supposed to be. From what I saw, it looked like it was meant to ridicule (or "parody" as more forgiving people would call it) anime by making fun of its stereotypes. The commercial started out by poking fun at the way anime characters jump and how their faces look "really freaky" when expressing emotion--and immediately alarm bells sounded in my head ("Not another one..."). Its hook was supposed to be, "If you like American anime about other anime..." or something like that. So, as far as I know, this show is combining the two things I hate most concerning anime: worn-out jokes about anime stereotypes, and Americans trying to jump on the anime bandwagon by calling their work "anime" or "manga" as opposed to "anime/manga-STYLE". I have already discussed this particular point in a previous post, but only with manga. Here is my stand on the term anime. Since the word is a Japanese shortcut way of saying "animation" and refers to the same thing that the term "Japanimation" does, you cannot use it for a purely American, albeit anime-STYLE show. But the worst thing about this show's claim to being anime? It wasn't even drawn in the anime style at all! It looked like any other American cartoon. So tell me, how is it anime?

Also, about the anime stereotypes thing ("OMG, BIG EYES LOLWTFROFLOMGBBQ!!!111"). I'm not even going to bother ranting about it. I'll just say this: The joke is OLD, people! It's not even as funny as it was before, which was not funny at all! It's negative in funniness now. Be original. Oh, and research your subject before you begin pointing out its faults, mmkay?

...I just went against my own advice. But what am I supposed to do? The show isn't even airing yet. And I don't want to watch it and therefore not be boycotting it for offending me with its commercials. So that'll be my stand--that the commercials offended me and therefore I don't want to endorse it. Loopholes, hurrah!

And it's not pronounced "cap-a", dickweeds. Stupid American jerks.

Oh, PS: If you haven't already, check out the link on the TheO news page to the Brothers video. Vic's voice is heavenly, and it's a lovely song. A must for FMA fans.
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