Memoirs of the Angst-Bitch

I did it! I finally caught up on my LJ readings. I need to stop being a plurk-obsessed slacker and actually like check this thing once in a while. I had some rants (mostly dealing with Katsucon and its ability to make me feel completely detached from the world yay -- aside from realms_of_life who is love), LJ plastering my screen with game ads (no I don't care), jeers for the Maryland General Assembly for being so indecisive on the gay marriage bill and refusal to watch then new ponies (I woooon't.)

I also had kudos for sari_15, whose essay on the latest VK Chapter makes me feel like a lazy slug who really needs to get around to reading that chapter and analyzing it properly. I need to shake my VK annoyance in general because the developments in this chapter are actually quite interesting and could add something different to the Zero situation. That reminds me, I really should hang up my pretty Zero poster already.

It has been a very mixed week for the Nayami, with mood swings a plenty. I need to catch up on Star Driver, Young Justice, Drag Race and the manga I picked up from Katsucon. I also need to go check out King's Speech and do some other D.C.-related things. I have been having much fun with The Lost Hero, which pretty much spares itself of any of the character issues that plagued the first series. I still want my Thalia though.

I had poli-rants but they can be summed up as: MAKE UP YOUR MINDS PEOPLE.

I spent an insane amount of time last night watching this user's animated wolf series about a cow who wants to live with wolves. It sounds lame, but the characters and storyline are fairly deep, with much of it focused on the wolves. The dialogue could use some sprucing up and some of the characters' actions are a bit forced, but overall it is an impressive effort for someone to churn out this type of thought-out plot in 5-7 minute installments every month. Her animation also improves as she goes, and I love watching artists develop. It's funny because I always chide realms_of_life for the time she spends reading original fiction on AdultFanfiction and here I spend hours watching an original animated series. I guess I have nowhere to talk. But, man, things like this inspire me to write.

I also really want to read Erin Hunter's "Warriors" series after spending equally long watching story videos and adaptions like one done by the above user and this young animation studio. I always complain about how I hate the rabbit mythology in Watership Down and can't read Redwall because I don't give two tail shakes about rats, but yet I'm fully willing to read an entire series about warrior cats. Since they're YA, I also expect them to be quick reads too. I'm going to toss one up on my bookreads queue, maybe about The Lost Hero, and see what I think of their style before deciding if I want to fit them into my schedule.

Also, just in case I deterred anyone with my rant yesterday, Legend's final episode is REALLY GOOD, just suffers from the pacing issues the majority of the issue suffers from. But the characters are amazing as always.

If I don't get my fondant today, I'm going to punch someone. I want to go see "Tron" already.

Why is it so hard for me to figure out how many episodes anime has? Wiki told me Legend has 26 and word on the street is 24, with next episode being the last. ANN told me Star Driver has 13 and the Japanese TV guide thing has a summary for episode 14. WHY IS THIS SO HARD PEOPLE?

In other news, when did it become cool for politicians to cry? I thought that's what lost people elections. But now it means they CARE. Go fig.

Man, I hope LoL doesn't end up killing Sion, I will be so sad. This is the first anime I have really gotten into (minus fandom) in a long time. I'm kind of disappointed the fandom for Star Driver is so boring. I might write longer reviews on the recent episodes of both of these after I watch the new Star Driver tomorrow.

I also really enjoyed the premiere of Young Justice. The characters are probably far more quippy and bratty than they should be, but I really am loving Aqualad. Jesse McCartney as Robin is also amazing. And of course I have a soft spot for Kid Flash and Superboy. Though I'm thinking Aqualad/Superboy may end up my OTP.

So I intended to get home an hour ago. Unfortunately, a car just ahead of the car I was driving behind suddenly BURST INTO FLAMES. That was... awkward.

It fit into my strange weekend, which consisted of watching "Hereafter." As for whether I liked the movie, well I'm a Matt Damon fan so I will watch almost anything with him. I will say that it would have been an infinitely better movie if it had just been the kid stalking Matt Damon for most of the movie while he tried to find the reporter. I would like to rewrite this movie.

Gabi and I also finally carved our pumpkin. It was very small since all of the big pumpkins had been taken by the time we stopped by the store, and they didn't refill until the next day. But it was a fun adventure, and I didn't injure myself so yay. There was also Togainu no Chi, which is dreadfully dull without the yaoi, Legend of the Legendary Heroes, which really should have just followed the novels instead of spending too much time trying to be Slayeresque because it's very interesting now that it has a plot and of course Star Driver, which broke formula and actually gave some of its characters motivations. Also, there was silly yaoi fanservice so it gains an amusement point for that.

I think my eye is dying again. Of course.

I solved my book dilemma by flipping a coin. So far "Shadow's Edge" is quite interesting. Plus, it has more of sexy assassin Vi so that's always a bonus. In other library news, "The Passage" ended up being a day late and when I picked up books yesterday nobody told me I had a fine. It's not like it's going to go up, but I'm still irked.

I was in an Elfen Lied move yesterday but wasn't quite up for a rewatch so I did the next best thing. I watched Sage's Elfen Lied Abridged, which is a masterpiece in both TERRIBLE DARK HUMOR (no, I am serious, if you have seen EL you can guess what he's going to be mocking YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) and plotty humor. I am sad he only did 10 episodes for a 13 episode series but oh well. Elfen Lied is always a special series for me since it had so much I don't like: rampant nudity for the sake of nudity, main characters that I want to bludgeon in the head, overt violence to women, loli abuse because you have to meet the loli fetish and over-the-top depressing back stories. But the over-arching story is just so good! As are Kurama and Lucy. They more than make up for the suck. More people should watch because whether you like it or not, it's an experience.

Sadly, my search for something to fill the void the missing three Abridged episodes left in my soul led me to Vampire Knight Abridged (Warning: Yuuki's voice is LOUD AND PAINFUL), mostly because all Code Geass parodies rely on memes and don't know how to do humor in an interesting way suitable for CG. Anyway, I'm not going to lie, Gabi and I are totally addicted to VK Abridged. It starts out kind of shaky but gradually gets quite good.

Pros: Zero is an asshole I love this, Yuuki fantasizes about Kaname/Zero yaoi to the point that Kaname has to explain to her that he and Zero aren't going to have babies, Aidou is flamboyant and in love with Zero, Twilight jokes beautiful Twilight jokes, any scene with the Night Class together is magical especially with bitching Shiki, Yagari is a pirate and Zero calls him Daddy, Zero and Kaname's fighting over Yuuki is amazing, Cross wailing about his BABIES, great one liners, Kaname and Zero's voice actors slay me. Oh yeah and the vampires are crazily addicted to chocolate and shiny things LIKE KITTIES Zero is secretly fond of shiny things as well. :\ This is perhaps my most favorite random vampire trait yet and I have "borrowed" it for my one AU.

Cons: YUUKI'S VOICE WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO SHOVE GLASS INTO YOUR EARS AND IS PAINFULLY LOUD, Yuuki refers to Zero as Edward although she loosely explains why late into the series, a little much focus on Kaname's emo, one or two jokes regarding noncon venture a little too much into the mrrr area, people are harsh to Yuuki but she is more a Twihard than a Bella, the voice actors like to cuss more than I think is necessary.

But yeah, I'm addicted and stayed up entirely too late watching this nonsense. It also made me miss pre-timeskip VK hijinks. Le sigh.

I kind of love the idea of spoofing Family Circus, Charlie Brown and Garfield into political humor.

I want to comment on Woodward's new book, but I need a few days to let it all sink in. Wow.

Gabi and I had a fun time watching the first half of Nabari no Ou, only she cheated because she's already read the manga so I made her tell me THE BIG SPOILER. I'm not a big fan of Miharu because I hate that 'I'm a 12-years-old child' thing he always does. But I do love his relationship with Yoite. I really love them. I also enjoy Aizawa and Thobari. Poor Thobari. But more that that, I'm just excited to finally know who the fuck are these characters that I've seen at CFUD for years. I feel edumacated. We'll probably watch the second half next week or so.

We also caught up on Sherlock. And all I can say is wow is a certain character GAY. But yes, terrible cliffhanger and *insert fistshake gif here* and all.

( I finished Mockingjay on the Metro by accident. :( )

I guess I will be picking up The Passage at the library tomorrow.

Thus is the theme of this year's Otakon experience.

Aside from Gabi's shameful run-in with fate via After School Charisma and thus dooming us to a fire at the convention (which only lasted about an hour and a half) and Graham's equally horrific bout of food poisoning via our favorite sushi place, Otakon was enjoyable. Meet-ups went down as planned, time spent with yzak and anatari was awesome, Todd Habercorn and the Voice Actors After Dark panel was mind-blowingly hilarious, X-Japan was properly fangirled and I was able to blow most of my money on Durarara fanstuffs. Though we were all horribly sad the yaoi was a lie.

I also picked up Red Garden, Nabari no Ou and the final R2 set, along with the Vampire Knight artbook (because I am a sheep) and silly fanarts. Gabi got to learn what it's like to play with Nayami's whacky con schedule and even critiqued the Lelouch cosplayers... from a distance. Masquerade was hit or miss but the advanced set did have some magic in the form of "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" for Hetalia, "Telephone" for Utena: Black Rose Saga, "What's This Feeling" for Roy and Ed vs. fangirls, great Street Fighter demonstrations and sexy ninja break-dancing. Also, some great AMVs.

I think I will be waiting another day to return to the real world since Rachel and I have been mass-marathoning Avatar and I kind of want to watch Book 3 now. I enjoy remembering how much I used to love Avatar and shared with Rachel all of the fan reactions and crazy theories that followed all of the major episodes. Since she was only familiar with the movie, it was quite an experience!

In other news, I prefer the manga version of R2 to the anime, I think. Though I still haven't seen the last volume.

Oh yeah, for some reason Gabi broke down and bought the Night Class Vampire Knight outfit and we have since resigned ourselves to cosplay Zero and Aidou at Katsucon. I PREDICT AGONY. Now, to find me a weapon. *insert evil laugh here*

So Gabi and I rewatched Ergo Proxy and attempted to make sense out of it. Spoilers: we still fail. But I did pick up on some things I missed before. Gabi helped me find a new appreciation for Raul, and I think I love Vincent more than ever for being so fail.

Kitty is also continuing to show improvement and looks less stricken by bright light.

But that's not what this post is for, this post is for arguing with the critics about Inception's flaws. ( Why Inception works. )

Dammit Kushina arc. Now I have to catch up on Naruto. Seriously, though, this arc is really reawakening my interest in Kishimoto's storytelling. It's really touching. Initial interest sparked by this breathtaking fanart.

I have also decided that Gabi and I will be torturing ourselves with the hilariously-named The Legend of the Legendary Heroes of Legend (one of those legends may not be part of the actual title.) It makes me think high fantasy meets Geass. Yes, this is entirely based on the main's freaky eye power and his being voiced by FukuJun. Though there looks to be some slash potential and preview hinted at some nice darkness in the storyline. It will probably be fail, but I'm a Geass junkie so anything that can channel it for me earns at least my perusal.

I also want to break 3,000 on this damn Word Bubbles game. If only I didn't keep getting "pap." What the fuck are you supposed to do with pap once you get past the many iterations of "paper." Stupid game.

I have more political spazzery but I'll save that for another post.

I am also attempting some theology world-building for "Psychosis," being that I realized I have no fucking clue where the angels come from, what the magic is or what's the genealogy for half the cast. I also want to work better on Lucian and Tashira's living situation so that it's plausible and possibly better incorporate Lorelei into the story if it can be managed. I'm just running into a few bumps with her connection to Dominic and the threat of losing the important moment where Lucian and Dominic reconcile while Lucian is recovering at her house after a fight.

That means it's onto the meme!

( 30 Days of Writing Meme )

4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!

Lol, I just told Graham this story the other day. My first characters were descendants of Chibi-Usa. Yes, from Sailormoon. I don't remember much about them, except that they had their own talking male cat and such. I cared more about their children though. I shamelessly ripped off the Black Lady plot, only with twins. Basically, the girl twin goes nuts and the boy twin has to bring her back. Or was it the other way around? Well, there was a lot more violence and blood. I know the Silver Crystal became some scarily powerful sword. Hmm, I wonder what became of that sword...

Piggy-backing on this was the second part of the story, where the twins each meet up with the opposite sex member of these demon unicorn twins. The demon twins are warring against each other and each trying to win the other twins to their side. I bet anyone who's reading this no longer has any idea what I'm talking about. Anyway, both demon twins die at the end, although they are redeemed and remember that they love each other. D'aww. If this sounds familiar, you've probably guessed why.

Or if you want earlier, there's my Jack London-styled stories about a Samoyed (Sapphire) who has to return home to his owner and enters into a wolf pack, a boy and his pet tiger (Hunter) and some stray dog (Rogue) who owns his own city pack. As guessed from the reference, none of these animals talked. I wish I could remember more about them than just the basics. I bet I still have the story maps lying in my closet somewhere. I never throw anything away. Oh and waaaay back, there was the "Incredible Journey" rip-off about two dogs and a cheetah.