The Bluefin Melt

starlighter @ 2008-03-09T22:53:00

2008-03-10T02:54:18Z

So it can't beat the inmates' version, but still, not bad!

Edit: Also, how awesome is this -

Naruto, only 34 chapters away from the most recent

2008-01-06T00:00:32Z

This manga gets gayer with every chapter, and after 350 chapters, that's saying something.

starlighter @ 2008-01-02T22:06:00

2008-01-03T03:08:08Z

I have reached the end of Naruto volume 16! Tuna, able to leap 10 volumes in a single bound!

.....

*collapses from jet lag, despite having left off at a Very Bad Place*

starlighter @ 2007-12-23T08:33:00

2007-12-23T13:52:06Z

Zoro and Sanji are wandering deliriously dehydrated in the desert. Since Zoro has no sense of direction and Sanji has no clue where they are they are screwed.

Vash and Wolfwood come across them. Zoro and Sanji are convinced they are a hallucination and collapse, brought on by lack of water (Sanji) and/or booze (Zoro).

Vash is adamant about not leaving them there. Wolfwood thinks that natural selection should just do what it's best at. After some arguing, they force some water down Zoro and Sanji's throats, and schlep them over the cross punisher, and continue driving the now overburdened Angelinas to the nearest town.

After being reinvigorated with a more generous amount of water (and the promise of booze to come), Zoro and Sanji wake up to discover that they are in a refectory wing. This town has an old priest in a big church who appreciates Wolfwood's appearance and is happy to put them up in exchange for some desperately needed odd-jobs around the church.

While Wolfwood is banging away at the rafters trying to fix them before everything comes tumbling down about their ears, Zoro and Sanji get handed a grocery list by the priest to do some shopping since the priest cooks for the homeless. Vash has already gone out to raise money in his own way for materials.

When Zoro and Sanji get to the marketplace they realise that the money they've been given is not enough, so they have to brainstorm a way to raise more money to buy food.

Vash, who is raising money meanwhile by doing nice things like saving kittens from trees and getting paid ten cents by children for his troubles. He hears a commotion from somewhere around the market square and wanders over to check it out. He sees that Zoro and Sanji have set up an arm-wrestling contest in the meanwhile. Everyone is laying money on the local strong-man, and looking dubiously at the scruffy green-haired guy who has staked his katanas as the bet.

Vash raises his hand and makes a show of betting all that he has (i.e. the ten cents) on Zoro.

Zoro wins.

With that money there is enough to buy what they need. The strong man, who is a really great loser, hands them a bottle of his finest moonshine as thanks for being defeated.

As they pass by the pastry stand Vash looks longingly at the doughnuts. Sanji notices.

Back at the church, all of them find out that while they were gone, a piece of falling masonry had beaned the priest on the head and so now he's retired to bed with a massive headache. Wolfwood is apologetic.

Sanji cooks for all the poor. Much appreciation by all.

At night after all things are done, they FINALLY have the double date. Sanji makes beignets, which Vash adores. Moonshine is drunk, UST is hinted at between Zoro and Sanji, Vash and Wolfwood.

Then they all go to bed.

Fade out.

Shipping meme

2007-12-23T13:25:54Z

The Shipping meme! As performed by Tuna and Squit, who really have a lot of opinions.

SIX PAIRINGS I LIKE:

1. Vash/Wolfwood
2. Ban/Ginji
3. Hikaru/Akira
4. Zoro/Sanji
5. Jack/Rei
6. Shinji/Kaworu

THREE SHIPS I'VE ABANDONED:

7. Inui/Kaidoh (and most other PoT pairings)
8. Juubei/Kazuki
9. Kiba/Tsume

ﾠ
THREE SHIPS I'VE NEVER LIKED:

10. Duo/Wufei
11. Tsume/Toboe
12. Sendoh/Hanamichi

ﾠ
Outtake: 12.5
Heero/Trowa -
"... how do you feel about suicide?"ﾠ"
... *grunt*"
ﾠ"Yeah, me too."ﾠ
... *holds hands*

TWO SHIPS THAT HAVE PIQUED MY INTEREST:

13. Saitou/Pazu
14. Jin/Mugen

ﾠ
Questions!

1. Why do you dislike #11 so much?

Hmm. Where do I start.
i. Toboe has no cock.
ii. Toboe wears bracelets in canon, JANGLY bracelets. (AND HAS NO COCK.)
iii. Everytime I see people fangirling this pairing, I think : YOU GUYS ARE SUPPOSED TO FANGIRL KIBA/TSUME, STOOPID.
iv. Toboe cries all the goddamn time.
v. Also, he's useless.
vi. Kiba/Tsume would be SO GOOD together and the fandom chooses to settle for water when they could have ambrosia. I mean, just think of the porn!
vii. We could really go on forever, but we'd prefer to go on to #2.

ﾠ2. Who do you know that ships #13?

ﾠ...No one? Really, I can hear the massive deafening silence echoing here. Firstly, very few people (who are rabid yaoi fans) watch GiTS and all the associated spinoffs with the same dedication that we do. And second, even if they did it wouldn't be for the sizzling hot man-chemistry.

ﾠ3. What would be your ideal scenario for couple #3?

ﾠSince our ideal scenario for Hikaru/Akira left Akira with his hair wet on a pillow and Hikaru hovering over him SINCE 2005, I think it's safe to say that we would like Hikaru to move so that Akira can get off the pillow, dry his hair, and MOVE ON WITH LIFE.

ﾠOur universe was generated in order for them to have sex, or really, a relationship in a plausible manner. I think by now the characters have independently moved in and adopted dogs or goldfish together.

ﾠ4. What if your favourite moment for #1?

ﾠSince we love the Vash and Wolfwood so much (it is not unreasonable to say that this is our defining pairing) we're going to list ALL the canons, our universes and BOTH the happy and sad ones.

ﾠAnime

ﾠTuna Happiest moment: When Wolfwood came to get Vash while he was hiding out.
Tuna Saddest moment: When Wolfwood is thinking of Vash right before he dies.

ﾠSquit Happiest moment: When the two of them were shaking hands at high speed in their retarded fashion on the bus.
Squit Saddest moment: When Vash and Wolfwood fight after Zazie's death at the hands of Wolfwood.

ﾠSquit & Tuna Happiest moment: The spaghetti fight!
ﾠ
Manga

ﾠSquit and Tuna Happiest moment: It's one of the covers, where the two of them are roasting in the desert side by side, because they're so badass.
Squit and Tuna Saddest moment: When Vash looks up at Livio over his plate of fried rice, waving a spoon. He says "Yo."ﾠ

5. How long have you been following couple #6?

ﾠSince last century (???) Given the temporal dynamics of this show plus our universes, since before we were born.

ﾠ6. What is the story with #8? What made you stop caring?

ﾠToshiki. Also Kazuki became annoying. Also Jubei was too passive-aggressive.

ﾠ7. What ship do you prefer - #2 or #4?

ﾠWe thought it would be an issue, but no contest. #4, Zoro and Sanji. Why? Because the porn value is higher than with Ban and Ginji. For one thing, I've seen much better ZoSan porn than BanGin porn. Let me rephrase that, I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY BANGIN porn that was worth my time.

ﾠ8. You have the power to make one ship non-existent. Choose from #10 or #12.

ﾠWell, we'd have to go with #10, because it annoys us a lot (really, if only you could hear the shouting we're doing at the screen). For one thing, Sendou/Hanamichi is not as threatening as Duo/Wufei, because the show doesn't force any of the pilots to interact with their True Love for extended periods of time.

ﾠWe have a LOT of reasons for this.

ﾠWufei is not interchangeable with Heero. They don't have the same personality, or the same motivations, or the same values or even the same ideals that drive them to pilot gundams. This changes the fundamental dynamics of the relationship with Duo.

ﾠ(We'll let Tuna take a break and breathe while I get on with my part)

ﾠBefore anything I think what Wufei obsesses about are things that are completely incomprehensible to Duo. His internal conflicts, and there are a LOT of those, his self-doubts, his motivations for revenge, his guilt...all these things are trapped inside him because he's a repressed kind of person. Which is why, beyond the impossibility of it all, I ship the 13x5 pairing and generated not one but two universes so that my favourite guy of all time could get the truw wuv.

ﾠAlso, I think that Heero and Duo can understand each other a lot better than Wufei could.

ﾠI mean, we have to delve really deeply into Wufei psyche and his inner demons (hello anyone watched Endless Waltz? It was ALL about him not being able to GET OVER IT). And we'd be here forever if I went on so we're moving on.

ﾠ9. What interests you about #14?

ﾠPORN. (See later for extreme detail)

ﾠ10. When did you stop liking #7?

ﾠAfter the series showed no signs of ending. It lacked movement/closure/progression/respectability. I don't respect the show, or the characters in it any more. How much maturity can you hope to keep attaining by being a really gay person in shorts beating a magical ball around?ﾠ

I make an exception for Akutsu/Kawamura, because they at least have the sense to bow out gracefully. (We both stopped reading the manga so we still have respect for them).ﾠ

Also PORN. Because Akutsu has the menace and Kawamura has the backbone.
ﾠ
11. Did your waning interest in #9 kill your interest in the series?

ﾠOur interest most assuredly did not wane. It was a combination of Tsume/Toboe (we hate it SO MUCH) and the series was weird. Personally I hated the art.

ﾠ12. What's a song that reminds you of #5?

ﾠ"A Case Of You" Opinion is divided over which cover is better, but I'm trying to swing Tuna over to the k.d. lang side of things.

ﾠ13. Which of these ships do you love the most right now?

ﾠVash/Wolfwood. No fight, no contest. Always.

ﾠ14. Which do you dislike the most?

ﾠStill Duo/Wufei.

ﾠ15. If you could have any of these pairings double date, who would they be?

ﾠWe are telepathic. Zoro/Sanji and Vash/Wolfwood. CAN YOU NOT SEE IT ALREADY? Sanji would cook, Zoro would insult him (and get kicked in the face for his trouble). The doorbell would ring, and then Vash and Wolfwood would come stumbling in with bedraggled daisies for the table and whiskey for them all, and and we're writing this for fic so there's no point telling you guys anyway.

ﾠ16. Have #2 kissed yet? Elaborate if yes.

ﾠDoes it matter?

ﾠ17. Does #4 have a happy ending? Elaborate if yes.

ﾠIt's difficult to say. Our ideas of happy ending differ. I think there's issues with Sanji's stability, while Tuna thinks that they'll part to do their own thing, then go back and grow old together.

ﾠ18. What would make you start shipping #14?

ﾠVehemently? If someone starts writing the good kinky porno. For example, I (squit) have two scenarios. One is there they have to infiltrate a sekkrit club of super rich people who like to debauch young virgins. The young male love interest of onesuch virgin who was kidnapped comes to Jin and Mugen and Fuu to ask for help. Fuu being a sop, agrees with no thought as to what this rescue process would entail. Hence, Jin and Mugen have to infiltrate it. The next morning, Jin disappears. Mugens spends a long time cursing the air blue, and then proceeds to the city, where he is promptly recruited as a member of the debauchery party because he looks suitably evil and perverted and horny.

ﾠCue: Mugen having the time of his life (it entails him having many many orgies with nubile young women while these rich people, who are obviously impotent, watch and offer suggestions, which he MUST obey).

ﾠThe third night, as he is having the time of his life, one of the rich people (his patron) says there will be an addition to the night's programme. Cue Jin.

ﾠMugen tries not to react, but fails. Mostly because the command is given out to a nubile young woman to pierce him in unmentionable locations using various gold and jade pins. These pins are handed out one by one by Jin, who is carrying them on a tray. Also, stone face.

ﾠThat night is particularly well received by everyone except Jin and of course Mugen.

ﾠThe next night Jin is ordered to do various unmentionable things to Mugen, who pretends that he's never met this guy in the first place, much less sworn to be the guy who kills him. This of course leads to various stifled physical reactions which depraved rich people love.

ﾠAnd so on.

ﾠ(I told you this pairing makes me think of nonstop porn)

ﾠ19. If only one could happen, which would you prefer--#2 or #6?

ﾠLet's see. #2 is codependent and #6's Kaworu's existence is all about the Shinji. We couldn't unmake either one if we TRIED.

ﾠBut otherwise Shinji/Kaworu.

20. You have the power to decide the fate of #10. What happens to them?ﾠ

Duo: *turns to Wufei one day* "You know, man, I think I love you."
Wufei: *head explodes*
Duo: "Kidding, kidding." XD
ﾠ
But seriously I'd expect them to go to their ONE TRUW WUVS and fling themselves at their feet for respective OTWs to take them back.

starlighter @ 2007-12-23T04:22:00

2007-12-23T09:34:56Z

Back at home and digging some Gryphon tea and Scottish (!) artisan chocolate, but most of all I am digging me some great Harry/Draco fic. My vote for the best fic I've read all year goes to The Price We Pay For Wings for a very lucky djinniyah over at hd_hols. This fic is beautiful. It made me ache, it made me cry; it would wring such emotion from a stone. Bring your tissues so you won't have to go stumbling through your living room looking for them like I did. When I find out who wrote this, I'll be first in line to stalk their LJ.

Many other fics in the exchange are very good, but here are my other favourites so far. Feel free to send me your favourites too, in case I missed something!

Kiss A Boy In London Town - a cliche down to its very bones, but I loved it nonetheless.

Love Like A Razorblade - James Bond crossovers have nothing on this fic.

Squib - the runner up to best H/D fic I've read all year! Bonus points for inventiveness in magical theory.

starlighter @ 2007-10-03T21:42:00

2007-10-04T01:47:31Z

The yaye! : Heroes, Ugly Betty, Chuck (!), Reaper, Pushing Daisies (!!!), Gossip Girl (guilty pleasure), Top Chef, Black Lagoon ep 1, Naruto, THE AKAME LOVE, the first ep of Season 3 of Supernatural available for free download on iTunes, the one ep I saw of Avatar: the Last Airbender

The not-yaye! : NO TIME TO WATCH THEM ALL. Plus, beginning to crack the MCAT books again.

Absenteeism

2007-09-20T23:49:48Z

My excuse as always is that I have been insanely busy at work. In the "I barely have half an hour for lunch in the library and I occasionally eat with my timer in front of me" sense, as I have to keep telling my parents, who honestly should know, considering their (a) workaholicism, and (b) their jobs.

On the other hand, I am probably not losing any weight, as I have taken to popping M&Ms a lot when I get tired/discouraged and need a pick-me-up. Yesterday was a free-for-all, as it coincided with my time of month, a splitting headache, and a bacterial transformation and a mammalian cell splitting that had to happen at the same time, which meant I was running back and forth and tearing off clothes and gloves everywhere as bacteria and mammalian cells, never the twain should meet. I swallowed I think nearly a full bag. I just couldn't stop reaching for them. It was a bit like being in a horror movie.

If I don't break out like crazy by the end of the week, I will be very amazed.

Also, my internet at home has been down for a couple of weeks; hopefully it will be fixed this Saturday, but it means I have been checking GMail and LJ only at work and been off chat almost completely. Also, I have been hurting myself lots (stabbing, cutting, falling down stairs) the last two weeks, which has not made me a happy camper, so it is all probably for the best. (I was most upset at falling down the stairs, though it was really minor and two days later I don't even feel any pain anymore, not even when I pipette where I hurt my hand. Apparently I deal better with blood going everywhere and being stabbed with tweezers and syringes. Who knew?)

Resident Evil: Extinction comes out at the end of the week! I am dorkily excited. I mean, Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter? Yaye!

Was sucked into reading Naruto a while ago; unfortunately, the chapters have stalled with the lack of internet and a safe computer to read it on. Predictably, am a Sasuke fan. Also, a Naruto, Kakashi and Iruka fan, but I am willing to be convinced to the Gaara/Lee side of the force.

True Confessions of a Lab Rat

2007-08-18T11:54:44Z

Experiments that should have gone well: many
Experiments that should have gone well but have instead given me puzzling results: uncountable
Experiments that have gone well: ...five? Maybe?
Experiments that have involved me being too tired to be shaking because my boss was watching every move: one
Time spent attempting to hunt boss down to ask him questions/show him results: HAHAHA incredible
Level of paranoia about reagents and blocks and even tubes used: exponentially increased
Number of conversations about lab politics successfully ducked and evaded: one

The motto of the people who do molecular biology in the lab appears to be "Trust no one", and has led to at least one very funny (in retrospect) episode with people who work on RNA. More and more experience seems to be bearing that motto out.

Am going to Point Pleasant Beach today and after to barbeque dinner! Was swimsuit-less until late yesterday, when my friend and I hoofed it to Saks after work so we wouldn't have to go naked on the beach. I fixated on a discounted purple Burberry bikini ten minutes into browsing and spent the rest of the time choosing a coverup and waiting for my friend. Pictures forthcoming.

starlighter @ 2007-07-29T20:56:00

2007-07-30T01:02:38Z

Exhausted, but it has been a very pleasant Sunday, beside the fact that our NetFlix DVD is skipping and is thereby preventing us from watching the last two episodes of the first season of Veronica Mars, which I have reluctantly become addicted to. I am a not-so-closet Logan/Veronica shipper because I enjoy how messed up Logan is and how determined Veronica is and ohgod my relationship spidey sense has been so messed up. We watched Music & Lyrics, cleaned the apartment top to bottom and then made mushroom stew and pasta and a ton of brownies that we enjoyed with vanilla ice cream (being stuck inside because of the rain). Now I'm hoping my aches from getting down on my knees to scrub the floor, bring groceries up six flights of stairs and then stir two batches of brownie mix will fade before I have to spend all day pipetting for my life tomorrow.

Have decided that I will start learning Perl in the hopes of doing some programming in the lab. Am hoping I will not mess up Zangetsu too badly doing so. All manner of advice, suggestions or supportive comments welcome.

*arms have become too tired to type*

starlighter @ 2007-07-29T20:38:00

2007-07-30T00:53:00Z

List seven songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

1. Klaxons - As Above, So Below
2. Ben Gibbard - Casino Blues (live)
3. The Decemberists - Think About Me
4. Arcade Fire - Crown of Love
5. Britt Daniel - Bring It On Home To Me (cover)
6. Spoon - The Underdog
7. Hugh Grant & Drew Barrymore - A Way Back Into Love (Music & Lyrics soundtrack)

Tag! one_if_by_land, two_if_by_sea, serendip, petronia, tarigwaemir, pinkgrapefruit1, absenceofmind

AHAHAHA WHAT THE FUCK AWESOMENESS

2007-07-27T02:58:05Z

Potter Puppet Pals present The Mysterious Ticking Noise.

I LOVE THE INTERNETS. ALSO, PEOPLE ARE CRAZY.

starlighter @ 2007-07-25T22:55:00

2007-07-26T03:01:30Z

STOP Still torn about new name for MacBook STOP. Zangetsu? Hei? Wolfwood? Sanji? Zangetsu-Hei? Wolfwood-Sanji?? ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER ?EXCLAMATION POINT?

Speaking of which, I find the fact that I have already seen one Potter/Malfoy:The Next Generation slash pairing of the future! heart-warming (and it has shown up in more than one fic, so it's practically canon by now!!). HEART-WARMING I TELL YOU. And already another is well on the way to becoming the next fanon pairing equivalent of Sirius/Remus. I find this to restore my faith in humanity almost as much as I am filled with joy that, after seven years, astolat's Scholomance series is done. Hope! Is! Not! Dead!

starlighter @ 2007-07-21T02:49:00

2007-07-21T06:54:42Z

It has been a very long week, and today in particular has been a very long day, with several ups and downs; the lowest of the downs has undoubtedly been finding out at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store GeniusBar that the flashing icon when my Mac refused to start up properly meant catastrophic hard drive failure. I lost everything. Years of photos, fics, wallpapers, icons, etcetera. I really should have seen this coming - I was convinced that my 15" Powerbook was a year and a half old, not three years as it actually is. I do, however, have essential paperwork backed up on a separate hard drive, but imagining trying to recover three years' worth of bookmarks is just... beyond words. And my photos - records of my college years! Gone!

The best up, of course, was getting a new black MacBook. *pets it* It made more sense financially to get this now and give G.Love (the old Powerbook) up for lost, even taking into account paying for Leopard when it does come out, though I'm going to try and finagle my way out of that one. Also, I am still covered by my educational discount through Rockefeller, so I got a free 4G iPod Nano with it with the mail-in rebate. I staggered home at 11.30pm with it and all my peripherals and I've spent the last two hours frantically downloading programs and plugins. Firefox, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Camino, Firefox extensions, Java, VLC, MPlayer, Flip4Mac, DivX, MacJanitor...

Now came the problem of what to name it. As it's all black, I am torn between the names Zangetsu (Bleach) and Wolfwood (Trigun) (Akabane is not an option, no). Or just Hei, from Darker than Black. On the other hand, I could go for the dorky loves and call it Rukia, (Sode no) Shirayuki or Sanji. Or hell, Kaien, for that matter, but down that path angels fear to tread.

View Poll: The Name-That-Laptop! And Why? Debate

starlighter @ 2007-06-25T08:57:00

2007-06-25T12:58:44Z

I has a Squit and I am her (very brief) social calendar in New York. We're here until Thursday, anyway, so if you'd like to meet up, please to e-mail me at the GMail account, specifically emblem, if you're free?

The Triumphant Post!

2007-06-20T04:56:14Z

I am now living in New York! Or rather, I have been in New York for just over a week now, but the apartment was not habitable when we arrived, nearly halfway through the first month of our lease, I might add, with problems up to and including the fact that we lacked a functioning bath spigot (though water did come out of the hole in the wall when you turned the tap), running water in the sinks, smoke and CO detectors and a lock on the door that worked. There was that happy episode when, coming to dump stuff in the apartment before returning to my cushy hotel room, my mom and I got trapped in the apartment when the door stuck. Literally. There's a little flip thingy on the bottom that's supposed to lock the outside handle so it can't be turned if you don't want it to. Our lock stopped the inside handle, and managed to somehow flip itself on when we closed the door the first time, because the top of the lock wasn't screwed into the door. Cue hysterical phone call (among many) to the management company. Eventually the entire lock had to be replaced. We then put in a second lock and a security chain (the peephole, we were told, was painted over by the same geniuses who did the first unhappy lock and is completely unusable) but the entire door is sagging and it has to be closed in an extra special way and we are told that the entire door was meant to be replaced, since it is missing screws. By this point, my roommate and I are starting to lose a few screws of our own, since we have been constantly in the apartment waiting for workmen of one sort or another to arrive. However, tonight is the first night we have internet and air conditioning, and tomorrow is the first day one or the other of us is not destined to make day-long trips to furniture stores or to stay in the apartment waiting for things. Comparatively, we are ecstatic. (Also, I got my hair cut today, just in time for a heat wave! And there is a Pinkberry around the corner.)

Victoree! (^_^)v

starlighter @ 2007-06-05T11:38:00

2007-06-05T15:50:04Z

Senior week is shaping up to be awesomeness, even if I am operating on rather less sleep than I should have. Everyone is plying us with food and alcohol! Even professors! Graduation is a happy thing on all sides, I imagine.

Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga has leaked and it is also awesomeness. Sasha Frere-Jones thinks so too, mostly. My love for Spoon and Britt Daniel knows no bounds.

I'm moving to New York in a week. I'm... scared out of my mind about moving. And elated, yes, but... moving. Not good experiences with that. Fear.

I thought that I really wanted to go to the Monolith Music Festival, but I was so, so wrong. I don't want to go to Monolith; I'd kill to go to Lollapalooza in Chicago in August. Holy crap, the line-up. *nosebleeds* I imagine this is something akin to what fangirls felt when they found out that SKIN (Yoshiki, Gackt, Sugizo, Miyavi) were to be at Anime Expo 2007.</i>

Oofuri raw ep 5

2007-05-12T22:55:13Z

You can find the other raw eps in prillalar's post here, and here's the latest raw I can find. Sure, Mihashi might make you want to shake him sometimes, but how hot is Abe saying to himself "Nishiura needs you! I won't let you go back to your old team! You're ~~mine~~ ours now!"

So young. So young and so damaged.

MU link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TGPQCAYQ

Ookiku Furikabutte ep 1

2007-05-12T20:56:19Z

Goddamnit, I love this show. Damn you, two_if_by_sea! They're just too cute! And I don't even like baseball! More specifically, I want to see Abe smex some spine into Mihashi, because I find Abe's calculating mind sexy like whoa.

Why so gay, Ookiku?? Why so gay.

Close the Last Door OVA 1

2007-05-08T00:54:58Z

Based off the Yamada Yugi manga. Oh, god. How I love this mangaka. And the OVA is great! Possibly because I have so much nostalgia for this manga, but nonetheless. However, I now have a big problem.

THEIR DYNAMIC IS SO ZORO/SANJI. "I know ~~you think~~ you're in love with your adorable ~~Nami-san~~ kouhai but hey, you're kind of hot let's sleep together!" I CAN'T STAND IT. *dies*

(Now, if only someone would do an OVA for that one of hers with the film otaku club. That was my all-time favorite Yamada Yugi manga.)

Placeholder - [Here is Greenwood] Walrus Days, incomplete

2007-05-07T18:41:23Z

That's a, uh, working title. "The time has come", the walrus said, "to talk of many things." From supacat's drabble request post.

Mitsuru looks over from sticking a much-abused pencil in his math textbook and leans back in his chair, hearing his back crack from being hunched over for too long. Shinobu's side of the room is as spartan as it has always been, but now it is beginning to take on the desolate, utilitarian air it had when they moved in at the beginning of the year as Shinobu methodically discards old folders and notes, piles upon piles of perfect marks, now useless, and betting records, all of which Shinobu has in his head anyway. They move out in three weeks and Shinobu is stripping the dead weight away, cool and dispassionate and without a shred of sentimentality. Mitsuru's own side of the room seems to be breeding more clutter instead; buttons and jackets and old pictures convening in one corner of the room where Shinobu shoved it after he'd nearly stumbled over a picture frame on the floor.

Shinobu's phone goes off again, vibrating noisily along the length of the table, as it has been doing all morning. Mitsuru raises an eyebrow at it, then at Shinobu.

"Aren't you going to get that?"

Shinobu pauses slightly to consider it, an old novel in his hand, pages yellowed at the edges. "I don't think so, no," he said contemplatively, and set the novel aside. "It's one of my girlfriends... ex-girlfriends now." Shinobu's voice is unruffled and matter of fact, and he pages through another economics book thoughtfully, obviously weighing the merits of having it against the hassle of having to keep it.

Mitsuru nearly falls out of his chair. "You broke up with them? Which one?"

"All of them," Shinobu says calmly, and then, "really, Mitsuru, you're going to catch flies like that."

Mitsuru splutters a little - he feels he's at least a little bit entitled, given that he's met all of Shinobu's girlfriends and can't imagine anyone giving any of them up, not to mention all of them at once. Anyone human, at least. "You- you... did something happen?"

"It was just time." Shinobu lays the economics book aside for the moment and sweeps some loose papers into a trash bag by his desk, face as still and calm as a lake on a summer's day, as the days are beginning to lengthen into.

Mitsuru finds himself a little short of breath - he has something lodged in his throat, it feels like; round and hard and difficult to get words out around. "You're really getting rid of everything, aren't you?" Everything from high school, everything from Ryokurin; this is Tezuka Shinobu moving on.

Shinobu carefully puts the economics book back on the shelf, aligning it with the precious few left that have survived the purges. "No," he says thoughtfully. "Not everything."

[They go on to have graduation hijinks with the rest of the dorm and Mitsuru gets more and more stressed out about graduation and leaving and especially Shinobu, but it all culminates in a nice Happi Endo before they leave school (and of course go to the same college, but they haven't heard back from entrance exams yet).]

Placeholder - [Trigun] Garden of Eden (incomplete)

2007-05-07T18:37:01Z

In response to squidlet's post about strawberries.

Wolfwood and Vash come across a torn-away part of the ship that crashed, with dessicated organic matter so dry it crumbles at the touch of a fingertip foamed around the entrances, but deep inside the shell and partly buried underneath the sand, they find something like a greenhouse, with flourishing and rotting strawberries all over the place, vines tripping them up as they walk in.

"Wolfwood," Vash says, his voice heavy, and Wolfwood is by his side in an instant, vines of fascinating fruit or no. The previous groundskeeper is lying on his side on a bed of lush leaves, now beginning to dry and crackle at the edges. He has a serene look on his face, and his fist is loosely clenched around a handful of tiny, perfect, ruby-ripe strawberries, not even bruised by his fingers. Vash reaches down to close his fingers, carefully folding each finger in, and then folds the groundskeeper's arms across his chest and steps back, allowing Wolfwood to step forward and get on his knees in the soft mulch of the ground, the knees of his pants go damp in seconds. Wolfwood says the last rites with the smell of rich earth and growing things all around him, in his nose and skin and in the dampness of the air, and though he gave up regret and sentimentality, those useless things for a priest, a long time ago; he is, nearly against his will, moved by this nameless man's life.

When he is done, he takes off his jacket and goes outside to dig a grave with the chipped and rusting (rusting, he marvels, and flicks some of it off the blade) shovel. If he waters some of the endless sand he is moving with sweat, though after a lifetime of living in deserts he rarely perspires, it dries up in the glare of the sun quickly enough anyway.

starlighter @ 2007-05-07T14:01:00

2007-05-07T18:21:28Z

Desperation breeds fic writing urges. At this point, I'd do anything rather than write/do my thesis, or really, think about having to find a place in Manhattan. I was aided and abetted over the weekend and watched Stranger than Fiction and The Painted Veil, which were both A+++. If I were smart enough to write something like the former, I would die happy; if I could be smoking hot like Edward Norton (as a quietly possessive! forceful! bacteriologist with great pecs) and Anthony Wong (and his eyelashes) in the latter, I would never have to work again. Have otherwise been enjoying the bounty of bb_shousetsu, which is magnificent and has political pundit talk show porn, which is so much win.

So, hypothetically, if you were to write a cyber/steampunk AU to a popular Shounen Jump series, what would you title it? Which songs would you use as references? I have the soundtrack to GitS:Innocence, but I need something between, I don't know, the sound of Poe or petronia's great Naoe x Kagetora FST and less emo than Wilco or the Postal Service. I have the Steampunk FST too, but need more suggestions.

[Show-watching: have dropped Claymore, but Darker than Black is all kinds of wonderful and is showing signs of a consistent plot thread that looks fascinating. Also, I finally recognized one of the characters as a reincarnated Ise Nanao (and another a more calm Matsumoto, for that matter) and then immediately felt foolish that it had taken me so long to figure it out. Heroic Age ep 5 was all the gay I had hoped it would be: Iolaus is the kind and powerful wind, indeed. Bokurano ep 3 was more of a filler episode, which was good and bad; ep 3 is a weird place to put a filler-type ep, though the reactions of the children were interesting to watch.]

starlighter @ 2007-04-29T10:16:00

2007-04-29T14:36:56Z

I have come to the conclusion that I am watching too many shows and need to wean myself off of some so I can get more work done. But which??

Would like to watch/read:
Gintama (because I am almost guaranteed to like this)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (to see what the hype is about)
Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn (because it's about... reincarnated mafia? Am I reading this right?)
(Welcome to the NHK?)

Currently watching:
Heroes (HAH! You'd have to pry me off the TV to get me away from this show)
Entourage (makes me happy, though I have to go back and watch missed eps - this current batch of episodes is great mainly for the Ari moments)
House (sometimes, though this season has been mostly take it or leave it, with the exception of a couple of stellar eps)
Ugly Betty (I have an addiction to silly shows)
Brother & Sisters (sometimes. Maybe. I feel like I can't quite relate, which is weird because I relate with two-dimensional animated characters with funny hair and their cracked out lives on a regular basis. Good show, though.)
Heroic Age (IOLAUS/AGE 4EV4, though I expect the series to go downhill midway)
Claymore (might drop this if Raki does not man up - too much repetition for a fighting anime and the characters are not compelling, though the animation is pretty and the swords are cool)
Darker than Black (I really like Li, the anti-hero psychopath he is; the fortnightly Strange Occurrence format is strange though - one would think that they would have learned from both Ghost in the Shell seasons that an underlying plot thread is much more compelling a storyline than Mystery That Overshadows Everything, though to be fair, we're on episode 3 and maybe it just hasn't emerged yet)
Bokurano (we'll have to see if the anime makes significant changes to the manga, but damn, the opening song is addictive - otherwise, I'll just hang on to the manga)

Still reading:
Bleach (...Kubo Tite, you're beginning to scare me with this arc.)
One Piece (still amazing. If we don't gain a new crew member at the end of this arc, I'll eat my Converses. Also, Nami's excuse for why she doesn't want Absolom == WIN AHAHAHA.)

*looks at list* ...*DESPAIRS*.

Any recommendations?

Heroic Age

2007-04-28T02:56:01Z

Most colleges, including mine, received a notice by the RIAA to stop anyone downloading files via BitTorrent. Needless to say, it put a real damper on any anime and manga watching, not that I was seriously interested in watching or reading anything besides One Piece and Bleach. However, I've recently been rediscovering ~~my childhood~~ ~~my one true love~~ animanga, and after two_if_by_sea's recommendations and judicious application of Google, I found CrunchyRoll and began watching this spring's new series. So far, I've watched Bokurano (eps 1 - 2, ch 1 - 41 of the manga), Claymore (ep 1 - 2) and Heroic Age (ep 1 - 4).

All three are worth watching, particularly Bokurano. I'm collecting my thoughts on them so far, but right now I want to rant at you about Heroic Age, or, as I have nicknamed it, Mecha, and the Psychics Who Love Them.

I'm still not entirely sure I grasp the plot completely, but Heroic Age is almost compulsively watchable. The production quality, for one thing, is very high and the first four episodes have been universally pretty. For another, it helps a lot that Age reminds me of Luffy, the epitome of the endearing shounen hero who is Unique Deep Inside (and who is always, always thinking about food, which I find ridiculously cute). For one thing, Age is an Artist, and quite a good one, without having to make a huge deal of his Inner Pain. For another thing, he can withstand the vacuum of deep space. (He can even talk in it, but I attribute that more to wacky anime physics, whereas everyone in the series makes a big deal of the fact that he's not explosively decompressing before their eyes.) He carries his mecha around in his right eye. His 'mecha' (really, I use this for the lack of a better term, since that is Age, for all intents and purposes) is called Bellcross. Bellcross is Age's Daddy. The ship that crashed on Oron, Age's home, is his Mommy. His best friend is a tentacle monster named Fuuto who likes poles, cats and whose tentacles Age rips off (playfully), has his mother process and eats when he's hungry. He then feeds Fuuto the trees he grows in his backyard so they can continue their lovingly twisted symbiotic relationship. He is so crazy deep inside. How could I not love him?

Bellcross deserves his own side note. Bellcross is beautiful. As far as I can make out, he's almost certainly part organic (made from stardust, if I were going to be poetic about it) with armoured parts. His head is strikingly beautiful; it resembles nothing so much as the head of a great white shark. I'm left wondering if the teeth are functional as well - I suspect they are. Though Bellcross floats 'upright' in space mostly, his hands and feet are shaped more like three-fingered paws. Again, Bellcross is one of the most beautiful mecha I've ever seen.

The absolute second best thing about this series is Iolaus, with his father coming in a close third (how often do you see prolifically spawning generals in anime? With children that do not carry massive emotional scars?). Iolaus is adorable, a high-ranking mecha pilot who wields a purple saber and is in love with the princess, is able to teleport and is quite, quite jealous of Age. It's enough to make any self-respecting yaoi fangirl salivate, even without the entire Greek mythology and patron saint of pederasty context to add to it. (Of course, Age == Hercules; child of the gods and humans, preternaturally strong, etcetera do we even need to carry on?) He is the (saner) Sanzo to Age's Goku (the comparison is impossible to avoid since Iolaus insists on calling him "monkey"), the world-weary Han to Age's Luke, the Heero to his Duo (I could go on). Better yet, his sisters are not above teasing him about his crush (and making him pay for pictures they take of her on the sly), nor his princess above making him babysit Age. For another thing, the princess and her role in the film is rather fascinating. I'm not sure I've seen a psychic used quite like this before in other series; I like it. Deaneira (spelling as yet to be determined) is their princess, but she is also early warning system, prophet and guide/mother figure. She's very, very useful as a leader, and actually communicates with her generals about attack/defense strategies, who in turn rely on her for advice. Maybe I'm just a cynic after too much Fullmetal Alchemist/Square Enix, but it's refreshing to see something of a united, cohesive government/martial front. (Then again, this is just the Argonaut, so I might be speaking too soon.) Also, I start giggling whenever Deaneria astrally projects herself places, because, astral projection XD

Anyway, my point is: I am destined to write Iolaus/Age stories. Destined.

If anyone wants episodes, I'd be more than happy to provide downloads. It's currently being subbed (and I kid you not) by Your Mom Fansubs (#Your-Mom at irc.rizon.net).

(NB: CrunchyRoll is 'free', but you can get downloads and high quality online episodes if you pay fees as well. They also have many old favorites, so long as they haven't been licensed. I've found a few other sites where you can watch episodes online but none with such a large library or with downloads like CrunchyRoll's. Another good route I've found, but which requires more work, is through tracking new releases on fansub group pages and downloading them through their IRC channels. I'm working on a small resources list of these, so if you know of any other good ways that don't involve BT, please send them my way. Better yet, if you know of any good series communities that regularly post downloads or have any interest in setting one up, let me know.)

Edit: Fic Rec - HP: War Wounds, H/D, NC-17 by silentauror. Summary: Some wounds take longer to recover from than others. This is a story about finding the way forward. Themes of alcoholism, dubious fidelity, and a love triangle. Long, well plotted fic; I found it appealing for its realism.