Friday, November 4, 2005

Society's Standards Over Gender
Fuck them!

I've been posting in a thread on the oB for the past couple of days, debating over what it means to be male and female. Everyone has good thoughts, but the one who made the thread (Adahn-sempai)brought up some valid points that I concur with:

Society has made women like they are, and has weakened them in a way that cannot rival genetics.

People have been disagreeing with that. I'm not too sure why.

We all are influenced by the media. Myself included--as is evident by my 'san'-ing of many people and the recent reference to 'sempai'. In the media, women are depicted in such a way that it's not so pleasant--vain, shallow, cookie-cutter copies of each other that seem to equate the 'perfect girl' idea.

It's not very empowering in the long run.

And Lore-San, I know what you mean by Tomboyish-ness, but I had it in reverse order. As a child I was very feminine, the sort who loved stuffed animals and dresses. But then Puberty hit, and I started realizing the silliness of girliness.

Bluntly, I didn't become a tomboy until I was in middle school.

And it doesn't help that I had a crush on my best friend at the time--it really complicated life.

So, as a female and as a tomboy, I say fuck society's standards and set your own! I just do what I feel is right--I don't feel that it is right to constantly be dependent on this 'boyfriend' business that most teenage girls seem obsessed about.

Hell, I'll probably be the only girl at Prom not wearing a dress. Yeah, go there a la Annie Lennox.
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Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Nani????
Whoa! How'd this happen? I go from 2 people signing my GB to 6?

LMFAO!

Sorry about that. It's just...unexpected.

Thanks for the support, people! ^^
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Monday, October 31, 2005

Marijuana and Federal Law Redux
There is a possible solution to the discrepencies in federal and state law over marijuana--have a review of the CSA.

The Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse was conducting 'studies' when marijuana was placed as a Schedule I substance--in spite of the fact that it lacked the dependence liability needed for this scheduling. This same commission later reccommended that marijuana be decriminalized.

Beyond all this, Administrative Law Judge Francis Young reccommended that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule II substance because he recognized that cannabis (marijuana) had an accepted medical use in the United States. This was determined from the litigation of various medical malpractice suits.

Of course, a minority of the medical community agreed with him. As it were, the DEA rejected his standards and instituted their own standards, based off of the scientific journals of the time. This was in the late 80's, before there was a mini revolution in the understanding of how marijuana effects the brain.

Before this, marijuana was thought to lead to psychotic bouts and was considered a 'hard drug'.

Taking in account these newfound facts, a review should be in order. The individuals using marijuana for therapeutic reasons shouldn't be charged as criminals!


Phew. Sorry about that. My brain went a fire, and I had to work a few kinks out before I wrote all that in my paper.

Speaking of which--great news! I lave less than 700 words to go! Yay!

I'll up my earlier standard for 11/3--it should be done by then. All it will need at that point is some editing.

Oh! Before I forget! Happy Halloween to those who are going out Trick or Treating!

I, unfortunately, will probably be detained in front of this PC for a while--and then I have to study for a big test on Thurday.

Ugh.

I'll live! ^^
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Oh. My. God.

I figured that I'd share the love. Don't be shy, go ahead--click it!
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Sunday, October 30, 2005

Marijuana and Federal Law
This is the title of a paper I'm writing in my American Government class, outlining and proposing a possible solution to the discrepancies in the laws of Marijuana on a state and federal level. In a nutshell, the laws go as follows:

Marijuana is a Schedule I substance as deemed by the Controlled Substances Act(CSA). By these standards, it has a high risk of abuse and no medical value. It is illegal on the federal level.

On the state level, fourteen states have made laws that allow the use of marijuana as a medicine. The possession of small amounts for use in this manner has been decriminalized--the individule will not be fined or incarcerated so long as they have a doctor's perscription.

And that, my friends, has been my life for the past week. I've been writing this paper in the APA Citation style, and I need 2000 words. So far I have 958, and I'm tired of writing in all this academic filler shit!

*Deep Breath* Sorry about that. I needed to vent a little.

Unfortunately, I'm having a tough time in this class--a combination of this paper, a lot of homework, and a complete ass for a teacher are making my head spin. Also, this class is lecture based, and he continues talking as I'm writing notes...he's a hard teacher, and he comes across so nice!

So, once I get this bastard done (circa 11/5) I'll be fine, and then I can start my paper for my favorite class--Sociology!

In the next paper I need to explore the various theories behind the JFK assassination. This one should get interesting.

But now I need to get back to being a champion for all the pot-smokers out there. Odd, considering that I don't smoke pot.
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Friday, October 28, 2005

Final Fantasy VIII
Inspite of the lyrics I used in the introduction, I've never played FFVIII before--I only heard that song off of a CD a friend of mine gave me. FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC is the title of the CD, and it's the FFVIII soundtrack.

But that little flaw has been ammended recently. Thank you, Starwind, for letting me borrow your copy!

I'm only an hour in, but it looks very promising. The cinematic sequences are beautiful, unsurprisingly. It IS Final Fantasy, after all. The game play seems good too, and the way you get the summoning spirits (Guardian Forces, as they are called here) is strangely reminescent of Tales of Eternia.

You have to fight the spirit and defeat them if you want them to help you.

And, again, I love the music. As I'm playing, I'm recognizing these songs from the CD, and I'm trying to guess the title.

Off Topic: I've been doing that with FLCL lately--I have a soundtrack from that show too. I'm following the lyrics and naming the songs. Sca-ree.

I also must compliment the people who made this game; the universe seems fully fleshed and well thought out. For the first fifteen minutes I was playing around at the PC in front of Squall's desk, and laughing over the rules and reggulations of the Balamb Garden.

"No weapons or magic in the Cafeteria. No food, weapons, or magic in the class room." Et cetera.

Plus the whole festival committee--it's cute.

I'm going to play more tonight, because I need to find the dorms, change, and then head out for SeeD testing! Wish me luck!
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Tuesday, October 25, 2005

WA Fans
Okay, okay. I posted in a thread on the OB that called for a heads up of all YAOI fans. I that post, I just mentioned the excellent manga called Wild Adapter by Kazuya Minekura. In responce, I got:

Two posts (Duoikari-San and Delta-San)

A PM asking for the link (Zenriek-Chan)

And various mentions that WA was a great manga, and a suggestion to read Executive Committee
(Which I've found scanlations to)


Beyond this, I had PMed Dagger-San on this subject before, and she gladly told me that Bus Gamer had been licensed by Tokyopop. Of course, I can't find scans or translations for any volume under 6, so that means I'll have to wait for this Wild Adapter-esque
manga.

I dunno what this means, but I think it means that I'm finding a few friends on the OB.
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Monday, October 24, 2005

Con Prop
I was listening to my The Pillows CD yesterday, awaiting information about the latest hurricane (Wilma), when the most absurd idea popped into my head. I about kicked myself, then I went on to tell Starwind over the phone.

It was a 'what if' idea. What if I dressed my little brother up as Naota next time I go to a con?

He's about the right age--10 years to Ta-Kun's 12--and he does have a baseball bat. It could work.

But he wouldn't understand, and I don't want to corrupt his innocent mind just yet with the wonders of Furi Kuri. He'd never understand!

"Onee-Chan...what are they doing...?"

"Oh. Nothing. It's just Kamon rubbing Haruko'San's back with his beard."

"But why is she moaning like that?"

"You'll understand when you grow up."

Awkward moment, there. I'll wait until I confirm that he likes Naruto, then when he's about middle school/ high school age before exposing him to Furi Kuri.

Then again, he may just discover it on his own.

Starwind was cracking up when I told him that. We both agreed that my little brother would make the best con-prop ever!

Besides, he'd look so cute with an ugly hat and a baseball bat. I could be Haruko during that con, and I'd make Starwind dress up like Amarao. It would be so great!
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Saturday, October 22, 2005

Surprise!
Cartoon Network pulled another fast one today--if you were up at 5:30 AM EST, you'll know what I mean.

Yu Yu Hakusho is back!

And here I was thinking that they'd never bring this anime back, because of the rumors that it gets particularly violent later in the series. By that I mean too violent to edit by Toonami's standards.

See? They should have kept it on Adult Swim.

So I was rather excited, considering the time and the fact that I was supposed to be getting ready for work at the time.

Since Gundam SEED comes on at 5:00, this means that I'll be getting up at 4:45 AM so I can shower and watch a full hour of anime before I go to clean a rich woman's house.

It's a part time job, but it pays a hell of a lot better that at the local grocery store.

Hence, I changed the featured quiz result in honor of this finding.

To make matters better on the YYH front, they started right where they left off when they stopped showing it--the big showdown between Yusuke and Sensui. No more back tracking!^^

Ahem. You can tell I'm excited.

Plus, I read on the OB that Neon Genesis Evangelion may start showing on AS tonight! That's great news, considering that I haven't seen this classic yet!

...

I think I'll be up very late tonight. ^^
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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Samurai Architects?
Having read the book 'The Fountainhead' once before, a couple of years before, I found that I enjoyed it entirely. But, over the course of the couple of years I forgot most of it. Sad, right?

So, I picked up a copy from the School's library just the other day, and as I started reading it again I noticed a parallel between this book made over 50 years ago and a recent anime--Samurai Champloo.

SC, most of us know, is another masterpiece directed by Shinichiro Watanabe-Sensei, featuring an environment like Japan in the Genroku period, only with glaring anachronisms at every turn. One of these anachronisms is Mugen, our 'hero',in a manner of speaking. He's brash, rough, callus, and always loves a good fight. And when he does fight, it's not even in any traditional style--something he apparently calles 'Champuru Kendo'. It's a hodge-podge of several styles that seem to be executed at lightning speet, all strung together in such a way that he looks like he's break dancing.

I've said this to my friends, but not online; Mugen moves like a wild animal.

To offset Mugen we have Jin, our classic, traditional samurai. Well, he's a ronin now, but that's beside the fact. He's calm, polite, and the sort of person who would be classified in the western world as a 'proper gentlman.' When he does fight, he's quick, silent, and deadly--often killing in a single strike.

How different can these two men be?

In a sense, the main characters from The Fountainhead are like this. Roark is like Mugen, and Keating is like Jin--but this is in architectural style, not fighting.

Roark is a young man will a brilliant vision of architecture as it should be. His designs borrow from no one, and they seem like they can exist nowhere on earth. The only way to describe his style would be 'modernist', but it's doubtful that he would like that.

Keating, on the other hand, sees architecture in a different light. His designs borrow off of centuries of hard work, forming a wholly classical feel to his drawings. To quote Roark, these designs are '...Copies in steel and concrete of copies in plaster of copies in marble of copies in wood." Nothing original, or necessary, in them at all.

Both of these titles seem to have an ongoing theme; modern styles versus the traditional. The only question everyone asks to this: Which one will win?

I do reccommend the book of you want a good read, as I reccomment Samurai Champloo to anyone who wants awsome fight scenes and classic japanese culture blended with a hip-hop feel that it unique to the current era.
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