Ramblings of a Crowe

New Avatars uploaded...

HERE

More Bleach and Naruto, but also a few Prince of Tennis icons. I'm surprised at how many people have snatched these things up. They kinda suck...*laughs* Oh well, just so long as you're having fun! I'll keep making them as the mood suits me.

(ichigo makes me laugh)

Reality Outside the Box

Normally I don't talk to much about personal things on this blog, but I feel the latest events of the past week warrant some talking about.

Sometimes I think people get so caught up in their own grief and hardships that we never really step back and think about how bad it "could be." We spend so much time being selfish and egocentric, that we never really stop to take a look around us to actually SEE other people and the lives they lead. Why should their lives matter when they don't affect us, right? I know I've asked myself that very question on many occasions.

Maybe the lives of others means nothing to us, but I think by stepping back and taking a second to observe our peers and their struggles, we might see ourselves in a different light. People don't broaden their minds by staying "inside the box"; we learn nothing if we are so self absorbed with ourselves that we cannot empathize or sympathize with other humans.

My life has been full of drama; so much that I go out of my way to avoid any sort of dramatic event or circumstances, even if it means turning away family members or friends. That is a part of myself I'm not proud of.

However, drama has a funny way of sneaking up on a person and making itself unavoidable. There are just certain things you can't look away from; if you do, you're not human anymore.

This week I had a converstation with my son's father. We are very good friends, despite the fact we split up when our son was a little over a year old. He's currently remarried with two step children; his wife and I get along well enough to chit chat on the phone and take short trips together with our kids. Their family makes due, but as most middle class families, finances are tight these days.

During our phone converstation he brought up his brother, and I knew news wouldn't be good. If there is anything we disagree on, it's his brother, who is a boil on the ass of society, and my son's father just refuses to cut ties with the man. It sounds harsh, being that he is family, but he has been to prison, stolen from his family members, mooched food, money, and housing from them because he's too lazy and too high on drugs to do anything else with himself. My son's father is far to kind for his own good, one of his biggest downfalls, and has repeatedly given his brother a "second chance" about 100 times.

Last year, there was a baby born. Yes. If the moron couldn't mess up his life any more, he had to go and knock up a woman who is, in my opinion, WORSE than he is. This woman has two other children, does drugs (did them while she was pregant too), never works, uses her welfare and foodstamps (she sells them) to by cigarettes and crack. Thankfully, the father of the first two children recently got custody and they no longer live with these parasites, but that still leaves the baby, who is seven months old.

I've known for a long time that my son's father and his wife have been taking the baby on the weekends that they have free, just to make sure she's okay and at least gets a decent meal with good people once in a while. Neither of them want no more children; they both work and money is pretty tight. The baby's grandparents have been taking care of her most of the time, but they are both elderly and smoke heavily. The grandmother has been rushed to the hospital at least three times in the past couple months, so the baby is often bounced around between homes.

As their health has gotten worse, the baby has had to spend more time with her "parents", something that has put everyone on edge. Apparently, for good reason. This past weekend, my son's dad and his wife went to check on his brother. They discovered the three of them living in an 8ft camp trailer with no electricity and no water. There was no food in the place, other than some 2% milk which they used to feed the baby when they remembered. Nor were there any daipers, and the little girl had been in the same daiper for three days. They were living in filth; the baby was starving--so hungry that she couldn't/wouldn't even cry. The mother was sitting inside, admitted that she had no daipers, but acted like it was no big deal.

They took the baby from those horrible people. My son's father said he told his brother that they wouldn't be getting her back unless they got themselves together, to which his brother replied, "Oh? You'd really take her for us? That's great! Come look at this new chainsaw I bought!" Several days later, the courts have drawn up papers and are waiting for the signatures; my son's uncle gets thrown in jail for three weeks and blames it on his daughter. Yesterday, the baby's mother came by their house to pick up their dog (which she left locked downtown in their truck with windows rolled up for five hours), and she didn't even ask to see her daughter. Not a question, not a word--just higher than a kite on drugs and worried about the dog she nearly killed.

Thankfully, my son's father now has legal gaurdian-ship. His wife has contacted the state about the welfare fraud, and the child protection agency. We all know that those two troglodites won't ever "get on their feet", but at least the little girl has a chance at a normal life with people who care about her. Though my family isn't directly affected by this, other than having to explain to my son why bad things happen to kids sometimes, we have all been busy gathering up old toys, clothes, food, diapers, and other baby things to send to them. The people at my work, my cousins, my mother have been wonderful rallying around this poor child. Thank you to everyone for pulling together.

I've been incredibly bothered by this whole ordeal. As a mother, I'm sickened. When I think about that little girl, who has the cutest smile and is so sweet tempered, I get teary eyed thinking about what she's been through. How can anyone treat their baby that way? I don't understand it. She didn't ask to be born. She has no control over her life. A child relies on its parents for everything--comfort, security, food, water, love. Parents are the world to their children--whether we like it or not. When a person has a child, they no longer belong to themself, they belong to that baby.

People like my son's uncle and his disgusting girlfriend have no business breeding. This "woman" has popped out three kids and hasn't taken care of any of them. Shouldn't there be a law against that? I mean, where does the right to be a parent end and the rights of a child begin? If you've had three kids, all of them get taken away from you, shouldn't that count as "three strikes your out"? Frankly, I think one strike is enough in this case because A.) You're messing up someone elses life (the baby you give birth to and B.) The tax payers end up footing the bill for all your kids. I'm all for "fixing" people like these.

*shakes head*

In the end, everyone's lives have been disrupted in some way or another by this event, but I think we're all just relieved that the baby is now in good hands. The road is long for my son's father and his wife, since they aren't certain what sort of problems will show up in the baby later in life (since she was born addicted to crack). Right now, she's a very happy child; laughing and smiling all the time. Perhaps she will luck out and be able to side-step the plethora of problems associated with children born addicted to drugs. Lord only knows the little girl deserves a bit of luck in her life.

Angel Sanctuary Avatars

A few AS avatars staring Rosiel, Lucifer, and Astaroth. Feel free to steal, though they are pretty crummy... :)

Naruto Episode 132

A while ago I posted this in regards to the Sasuke vs Naruto fight.

Well, here it is in color.

Friggen Sasuke...

****

As for Bleach 29:

Not much going on. Alot of running around on both sides. Though I was happy to see Hanataro make his enterance. *laughs* I love that guy. More Kenpachi too! Yay! Next week should be awesome, since Ichigo and Renji face off once again.

A few screen caps:

(Ganju and Ichigo decided Hanataro will make a good hostage)

(Renji squares off with Ichigo)

misc. blurbs and stuff...

"I look forward to your exciting lawsuit! I simply cannot wait to read the next exciting, action-filled update by Mr. Warrior detailing how the Internet is a vast liberal plot to destroy humanity and make the entire Earth blow up like a gigantic cake crammed full of homosexuals and foreigners. Both of you remind me how all political extremities, both far left and far right, embrace the exact same rhetoric. God bless America, the land of the lawsuit and the home of the offended. May you and your bicycle streamer-wearing boss both enjoy a successful libel / slander / intellectual copyright / insane washed up "pro" wrestler lawsuit against me. I have but one request: can "Mean" Gene Okerlund be present in the court when your boss testifies against me?"

~Something Awful

Another Lawsuit threat over at Something Awful, but this time it's the Ultimate Warrior! ONOESSS!!! This happens so often I usually just chuckle and move on, but this particular piece of work had me laughing my head off. Go check it out!

*****

Super Sneaky Licensing by Genon

Gankutsuou has been licensed. The trailer can be seen on the "Appleseed" DVD. Expect a fall release of the first DVD. Once again, I highly recommend picking up this series. It's amazing.

This...

is a BAD idea.

Human beings are screwing with things they shouldn't...can we say, "Opening a can of worms"?

THEN******

...we have the all high guru of all that is anime/manga trying to explain to us why fat/ugly people shouldn't cosplay...

Why would any self respecting person even grace this question with an answer? Better yet, when will this guy just shut the hell up?

Here's another great example of his...otaku mentality.

*sigh*

AND...

...all these rabid yaoi fan-girls need to sit down and do some research for thier fics. I'm sorry, but teenage girls writing about gay men just isn't working. I like yaoi and shonen-ai, but only when it's done WELL... (which is why I don't bother to read fan-works of this genre). Contrary to fangirlish belief, "Boku no Sexual Harassment" ISN'T the normal lifestyle for gay people... O_o And please stop posting threads on why you think so and so is gay. Why is this important anyway? We don't care.

*****

Uhhh...okaaaay...Not...

*****

Whew...I'm done for the day.

A Few Words in Japanese

I really haven't studied much...shame on me...I went over vocabulary and thought it would be fun to post some word lists here. Feel free to add in the comments section if you're so inclined!

Words:

喧しい (やかましい) yakamashii: noisy/strict/fussy
死肉 (しにく）shiniku: dead flesh
喰らう (くらう) kurau: to eat/drink/recieve (male/impolite)
思う (おもう) omou: to think/feel
弱者 (じゃくしゃ) jakusha: weak
趣味 (しゅみ) shumi: hobby
止む (やむ) yamu: to stop/cease/be over
勘弁 (かんべん) kanben: pardon/forgiveness
運命 (うんめい) unmei: fate
味方 (みかた) mikata: friend/ally/supporter
会う (あう) au: to meet
戻　 (もどる) modoru: to return/revise/restore/re-something
させる (saseru): to make someone do
やら (yara): a partical used to list things or denot uncertainty
叩く (たたく) tataku: to beat/strike (I had the worst time with this kanji)
初代 (しょだい) shodai: first generation/founder
登場 (とうじょう) doujou: entrance *on stage or in a movie*/entrance into the market
出る (でる) deru: to appear/come forth/leave
従来 (じゅうらい) juurai: until now/so far/traditionally
絵柄 (えがら) egara: pattern/design
変わる (かわる) kawaru: to change/be revised/be transformed/be different/move locations
ありうる (ariuru): to be possible/likely/probable
存在 (そんざい) sonzai: existance/being
代わる (かわる) kawaru: to take the place of/to relieve/to be substituted for/to change places (don't confuse with 変わる)
多い (おおい) ooi: many/numerous
意外 (いがい) igai: unexpected/surprising

A lot of these are just review; a couple are new for me. :) Always fun to learn the Japanese language! Yay!

Wow...this is a doozy of a screw up????

Even in the world of modern medicine things can go VERY WRONG.

Oh-- and heres DARTH VADERS very own weblog!
(thanks sis for sharing)

Bwha ha ha ha!

J-- I love you! I can't wait until you come home! You need to post that over at Customers Suck. *LMAO* Oh--BTW-- Screw "Harvey Birdman"; you MUST come over and watch "Robot Chicken" with me. Yeah! Friday night is game night! My dragqueen character OWNZ Piggy any day! >:P

More fun with Avatars--

*listens to crickets*

Anyhoo--I did some more avatars. Sasuke fangirls will hate me, but I don't care. I used to like that little punk, but now he pisses me off. I'm on an Orochimaru kick too. I made a banner! Ha ha! A sucky one, but what do you expect from a first attempt?

I'm only uploading a few that I made here. The rest you can find at the other site---> HERE

Have fun!

100X100 avatars

Brushes and patterns by:
redmoon studios
ningengiri.net
hybrid genisis
iconage

Old News: Vampire Hunter D first novel due out in May

I haven't been keeping up with much of the "anime world" lately--I know, I still tend to keep most of my posts dedicated to that stuff, but I honestly haven't been trolling the boards and websites for info on new stuff--until recently.

I've always been a big fan of Vampire Hunter D and imagine my surprise when I discovered the novels are finally being translated. I'd given up hope and was planning on buying the orginal Japanese versions--despite the fact it would probably take me months to read them. *laughs*

The first novel is due out May 15--or so says Darkhorse and Amazon. As much as I love Darkhorse translations, their scheduling is much to be desired...I mean, over a year between Blade of the Immortal GNs? *sigh*

ISBN:1595820124

Anyway, the second book is scheduled for a September release. We'll see. I won't complain, considering DH does a great job on their stuff, so I can wait.

ISBN:1595820140

There are 13 novels total, so this will be a fun series to keep up with. Many of us VHD fans have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this to happen. It makes me happy to finally hear we'll be able to enjoy D and his journies here in the US.

Okay-- I take back the bad things I said about Byakuya..some of them....

Alrighty-- I'm gonna do some summaries for Bleach and Naruto this week, since it seems like the chapters are worth talking about. Just manga, no anime summaries. If you've read the manga's up until now, you know what has happened in the anime. Capiche?

Oh, and though I don't feel obligated to put spoiler tags on any of my posts, I will here: Don't read these or look at any of the pictures if you don't want to know what has happened. Turn away NOW!

(oh, crappy scan warnings too)

*SIGH*

Okay...

Bleach:

Chapter starts off with the initial meeting between Tousen (blind guy) and Komamura (fox guy). They seem to strike up a friendship and Tousen introduces Komamura to Aizen when Aizen was still just a vice captain. Break to the present, Komamura is PISSED. OFF. He attacks Aizen screaming at him how he will never forgive him for betraying them all. Aizen manages to dodge Komamura's huge ass fist. Komamura starts shouting at Tousen, demanding him to say something about his traitorous ways. When he doesn't respond, Komamura begins to initiate his Ban-kai, but Aizen does his "magical disappearing act" and appears right in front of Komamura. Guess what happens? Yup, Komamura is sliced and diced by the OMG WHUPOWERZ of Aizen (is this guy friggen Superman or something?)

Now that the distraction has been eliminated, Aizen's attention returns back to Rukia. He continues his tale (doesn't he ever shut up?) and informs everyone how he actually killed Central 46 Committee BEFORE he faked his death. He, Gin, and Tousen took over command of issuing orders--no one was the wiser since not even captains are allowed in the Committee chamber. After he faked his death, Aizen sealed himself up in the chamber and took over full command. He was the one that ordered Byakuya and Renji to retrieve Rukia. He was the one who ordered her death. He was the one who made sure Rukia's gigai was destroyed.

He anticipated Ichigo's interference and came up with a plan incase the execution failed. He researched all of Urahara's experiments and discovered another way to remove the Hougyoku from Rukia's body (the hougyoku is a device that allows shinigami to power up to a higher level--they can turn to partial hollows). Aizen finally stops talking and his hand turns all funny. He shoves it into Rukia's chest, making a huge hole, and pulls out the hougyoku. The hole in Rukia's chest closes up and she's still alive.

Aizen studies the Hougyoku (a weird crystal looking thing) and then tells Gin to kill Rukia, since she is of no more use. Gin fires up his Shinsou and shoots at Rukia as Aizen holds her out by her "collar".

BUT...

BYAKUYA SNATCHES HER AWAY FROM AIZEN AND TAKES THE HIT INSTEAD! Holy shit ma, I must be seeing things! *rubs eyes* Aizen looks bored, but Byakuya looks pissed, which is saying a lot considering the guy has a glacier shoved up his ass 99.9% of the time. Rukia is STUNNED. Hell, everyone is stunned. Byakuya is messed up, still bloody from his fight with Ichigo, and now has Gin's spear sticking out of his chest, but it looks like he's ready to fight...

Then the chapter ends...

Sooooooo....

What might happen next? I really have no friggen clue. Aizen has the hougyoku, which could mean he can power himself up even more. That will piss me off, since the guy has cut down everyone who's come at him so far. Ichigo is nearly cut in half, Renji is down, Komamura is fox fritter, Hitsugaya may or may not be dead along with Hinamori...Kira is out...Who else am I missing? Four people with the ability to use Ban-kai have been defeated in seconds...

Things don't look good for Byakuya...

HOWEVER...I do have to wonder how Aizen will fair against Byakuya's Ban-kai. Unlike the others (if I remember correctly), Byakuya's Ban-kai is a field wide property...meaning no matter where Aizen goes, big B's ban-kai is there. Aizen isn't fast like Ichigo, he uses illusion to make people think he's fast...so...I guess we'll have to wait and see.

There is also the possibility that the other captains will show up. That flower guy (what the hell was his name), Kenpatchi (who has no Ban-kai), that scary ass old man...and what about Yourichi? *sigh*

Until next week...

Naruto:

Okay, not exactly an action packed chapter, but we do learn some interesting tid-bits about Itachi and his mangekyou sharingen.

Last week, we saw Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura run into Itachi. The started to square off.

This week, the chapter starts off with Itachi being his "polite" self. He probably one of the most etiquette friendly villains I've ever seen. Anyway, Sakura is surprised to see him, then she gets pissed because he's the one who caused all of Sasuke's "suffering" (sorry honey, but Sasuke caused a lot of his own suffering by being and arrogant dumbass). Naruto freaks out and tells Itachi he's going to beat the shit out of him but Kakashi stops him. He tells everyone to be careful and not look into Itachi's eyes or they'll be swept up by his genjutsu. They'll have to fight him without looking into his face. Sakura seems a bit troubled by this.

The old woman speaks up and says that fighting someone who uses dojutsu isn't impossible--there are several options. Naruto wonders what the hell she's talking about and the old woman explains that they need to fight in numbers; meaning the keep his attention divided amongst them so he can't capture them all at once with his dojutsu. Kakashi says that would be a good idea, but Itachi isn't any ordinary dojutsu user. It only takes seconds to be caught up in the tsukyomi and after that there is no release from the illusion. He also explains that the tsukyomi takes a huge amount of chakara, which works against Itachi.

Itachi compliments Kakashi on being so astute. Kakashi replied by revealing his own sharingen and asking Itachi, "How bad has your eyesight gotten?"

Itachi is shocked (wow, a reaction from him at last). He then says something along the lines of "Kakashi, it's not possible," or "Kakashi, you didn't..." I have no idea what he's talking about...this has me stumped. I'm assuming Kakashi has done something or figured out something that only other sharingen are aware of. I think perhaps Kakashi has copied something (though I don't know how...Itachi uses Blood line related techniques, which are suppose to be immune to copying). Anyway, Kakashi tells Itachi he was careless and that this time around, the fight will be different. Naruto gets fired up and says he's going to help, but Kakashi tells him no; he's only going to be back up for Kakashi. Kakashi admits he cannot fight Itachi on his own.

Meanwhile, Gai is duking it out with Kisame. Kisame seems out matched, but he busts out his water clones just as Neiji, Ten Ten, and Lee attack him. Gai has managed to wrestle Kisame's huge ass sword out of his hands, but Kisame uses his water prison jutsu to capture the three students. Now it is only Gai and Kisame left to battle, and now there's a time limit! The three will drown if Gai doesn't do something and fast!

My opinions? Interesting that Itachi's eyesight is going bad. I wonder if he'll go totally blind? And what does Kakashi have up his sleeve? The last time he and Itachi fought, Kakashi got seriously owned. And where is Sasuke? I certainly hope to see him and Itachi battle it out at least once (I want Sasuke to lose).

My favorite villians (various spoilers)

Okay, I love bad guys--but they have to be "good" bad guys. Does that make any sense? The more twisted they are, the more I love them. So I've decided to post my top five bad guys (anime/manga/videogames/movies/books)

#5 William Tavington in The Patriot

God, I HATED this guy. I wanted friggen cut his head off myself. He was a wicked, sly, evil creature who killed children and anything else that stood in his way. I loved loathing him. Great villian!

#4: Naraku from Inuyasha
Heh. What can I say about this guy? He's so damn cunning and such a friggen coward, I hate his guts. He pisses me off to no end, always having other people do his dirty work. And his scheming! The way he uses people! It's disgusting! But he's one smart mother...I'll give him credit. No one can create a plan the way Naruku can. The man can multi-task like the devil! Pitting Kikyou and Inuyasha against each other, controling Kohaku and making Sango (Kohaku's sister) try to kill her brother and herself, stealing little Rin from Sesshoumaru (Oh boy--was that a mistake on Naraku's part), trying to use Sesshoumaru by giving him that crappy arm, turning good demons bad and using them as cannon fodder, sheesh, the list goes on.

#3 Edmon Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo (can be cross referenced with Gankutsuou)

Okay, I didn't hate the Count--only sometimes--but I actually spent most of my time feeling horribly sad for him. I wanted to see him get his revenge in the beginning, but when he started to get out of control, I took a step back and said "Damn, this guy has lost it." However, he still made me want to justfy his actions. The man was SMART. The web he wove around those who wronged him was INCREDIBLE--a tribute to his devotion to revenge. That, my friends, is scary shit. He was a wonderful bad guy on so many levels--so many complicated levels.

The Count from Gankutsuou HERE

#2 Aizen from Bleach

Oh boy...I REEEAAALLLY dispise this guy. Okay, I friggen hate his guts in more ways than I care to count. I can honestly say I'll cry with joy when he dies--if he dies. He's played everyone in this series. He's faked his own death, killed his comrades, his superiors, and even his most loyal subordinates. Everyone loved him. Everyone liked him. He was the voice of reason up until his "so called death". The BAM...the jackass is back and murdering people by the dozens! He's brainwashing fellow shinigami into his twisted plan and they're dropping like flies. Hinamori, Kira...they were such fools! Aizen is the WORST! What sucks is the guy is insanely powerful. I think only Ichigo or Byakuya can stop him (and I hate Byakuya too). *sigh*

Aizen picture HERE Beware the spoiler!

#1 Rosiel from Angel Sanctuary

*laughs* I love this guy. I don't hate him at all. I find him incredibly amusing because he's nuttier than a fruit cake on Christmas eve. He's my #1 because he's so insane it makes me laugh and cringe all at the same time. Firstly, the dude is an angel. One of the highest level of angels in Heaven, but he won't even flinch when it comes to killing people (or other angels). He's obessed with his twin sister. He loves her, but hates her and wants to kill her...again. I suspect he wants to do other things to her too, but that's up for speculation. Rosiel seems to swing "both ways", if you catch my drift. He sells drugs to humans and turns them into horrific golems, thriving on their pain and suffering. He turns Katan (his most loyal friend) into a golem and locks him in a coffin--only letting him out to feed him small orphaned children (no shit, I'm not kidding). Everyone in Heaven is scared shitless of him--but the morons keep trying to kill him. Rosiel is constantly chopping his fellow Angels into bloody bits--he even sent Dobiel an angel's head on a silver platter as a "presant". WTF?! The boy is seriously deranged. He throws the BEST temper-tantrums, which usually end up with someone dying. Then he laughs about it. I love Rosiel. He makes me laugh. You never know what he's going to do next and in that respect, he's pretty scary (he doesn't seem to have any limits).

Manga Edits

Honestly, I usually don't give a damn about edits in manga; there have only been a couple of instances that have really bothered me. *coughtenjoutengecough* Use of suffixes, slang, even a few minor artwork edits fail to send me into a frothing frenzy. Marketing is a funny thing and business are out to make money. Sad, but true.

However, I do get curious, so trolling around the net I ran into this site that keeps people updated on various manga edits. It was really quite interesting. I actually laughed at a few of them (Ultimate Muscle). Go check it out.

For those interested the the debotchery that is TenTen, you can see the edits here. CMX has crapped all over this manga, which is a crying shame. You can see for yourself at FIGHT:CMX. They've done a good job keeping people updated. I'll be buying the Japanese tanks instead.

****
More interesting manga links

comicis.212.net

DAMMIT!!!!!

I'm such a DUMBASS! DUMBASS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I deleted all my iTunes songs last night. All gone...because I'm a friggen moron. Thank god my Do As Infinity and a few other songs were saved to CD, but I lost the majority of them...

Why did I delete them? Apparently I accidently "swept them up" while cleaning out a bunch of old files. I open iTunes today and BAM!! they're GONE.

*SIGH*

And why the hell does my back up hard drive only have 11% left on it? WTF is up with that?

Click the Picture to see

Check out the "Stress Pig". (make sure to click the picture to watch)

J:

I'm glad you're coming home! We are excited to see you again and keep your chin up! Oh, BTW--If I recall right, your boss cannot fire you for being in the hospital if you have provided him with the necessary information. He isn't above the privacy act and a doctor's note should suffice (just so long as it has contact information, etc.). I know over here we cannot terminate someone for medical leave, though we do have the right to put them on short-term/long term disability. Rules might vary from state to state though.

Avatar fun!!!

I've been making avatars lately. Not good ones, by any means, but a few have turned out okay. Feel free to steal them if you're inclined. I don't care. Just don't direct link them (right click and save to your own computer). I'll add more as I create them, so I'll create a link in the sidebar (either that or transfer them over to the Zero site when I'm not feeling so lazy).

*NEW AVATARS WILL BE MOVED TO THIS SITE FROM NOW ON!

100x100 (live journal size/Yahoo Messenger)

Star Ocean 3

Naruto

Bleach

Gravitation

Chrno Crusade

Saiyuki

80x80 (animenation size)

Star Ocean 3

Naruto

Bleach

Gravitation

Chrno Crusade

Saiyuki

50x50

Star Ocean 3

I'll make more and add them later. I've got screen caps galore (not just of Naruto and Bleach either). Like I said, they kinda suck, but if you want them, take them. Just don't link them or claim they're yours (I've marked them anyway with my "name").

Time to go to bed -- it's nearly 6am....

*Added Gravitation and Chrno Crusade 4/17/05*
*Added New Star Ocean
*Added Saiyuki

*Added Albel and Itachi .gif avatars 4/22/05
*Added new Naruto and Bleach avatars

More Funnies:

Great site with some hysterical stuff. Make sure to check out the "Amityville Toaster". That's a riot.

thanks J for sharing!

Funny InuYasha Flash

Naruto Flash

LMAO

Halarious Stuff: Go Check it Out!!!

Okay, I've been kinda cranky lately so I'm gonna make up for it by posting a couple links that had me busting a gut. NOTE: Before you watch these, make sure you empty your bladder first.

(thanks sis for sending these to me)

An emotional scene from the movie 7 --- but with a twist.

A reminder to all of us that you NEVER know who might be watching you...

A different outlook on Lord of the Rings

*heh*

As Promised: Clips of Nel and Cliff from Star Ocean 3 Manga (untranslated)

I finally got off my lazy butt and did up the scans of Nel and Cliff from the manga--but I didn't translate them. Sorry 'bout that. They're still entertaining though, and we see a very different side of poor Nel. *laughs*

(Kryssie, these are for you! Enjoy!!! (^-^) )

(Cliff doesn't believe she's a woman, so he's finding out for himself)

("What does this button do?")

(This one makes me laugh--Nel not so humbly thanks and Cliff taunts her by saying "What was that? I can't hear you?" ---more or less---

(Cliff is remembering Albel taunting him...Nel gets pissed)

(Acting rash Cliff hurts his hand; Nel hurts Cliff's head)

(Fayt's crying makes me laugh the most! Nel's gonna kick his ass too ha ha!)

Sometimes You're Not as Smart as You Think You Are...

I laughed my head off when I read this thread. Anyone who has read my various rants pretentious Japanese language students knows how I feel about people like the orginal poster.

But when I can't even figure out what the hell you are saying, then I get irritated.

I can empathize. I felt irritated and confused when I read her post.

I'm not sure what a bouzo is.　　She says it means "bald". Maybe it does, but I tried looking it up in several dictionaries and online. Nada. I came up with takobouzu －蛸坊主－　which means man with a shaven/bald head and bouzuatama －坊主頭－　which means shaven head/cropped hair.

However, I don't think even SHE knows what she's talking about--is she mad about fangirls using the wrong word altogether or is she pissed about her assumed misspelling of the romanization?

I'm going with the romanization theory--

"Boozo" is the Jap. word for bald. The fangirls yoinked the phrase and turned it into "bouzo".

Okay--quick lesson in Japanese for those following along. Japanese has several different writing systems:

1.)hiragana （ひらがな）
2.)katakana（カタカナ）
3.)kanji (漢字)
4.)romanji (letters of the western alphabet used to romanize katakana, hiragana, kanji.

The romanji spelling bugs her. She says it's wrong and that the correct spelling should be "boozu". (actually she says "boozo" but that's the wrong word all together)

Sorry sweetie, just because you learned it that way doesn't mean it's the only way. I prefer the use of bouzu to boozu. Why? Because if you break down the hiragana to romanji, you have the roman letters bo-u-zu.

Look:

BOUZU　<---this is romanji
ぼうず　ぼ＝BO　う＝U　ず＝ZU <---this is hiragana

Some books and teachers use the "oo" for the "ou" sound. Neither is wrong. In fact, other people use stress symbols over the "long" sounds as well; it depends on the way a person was taught and what they are comfortable with.

As to the word bouzu-- Inuyasha calls Miroku "bouzu" all the time. Miroku is monk. He's hardly bald. Even better, he's a "bad monk", to which I believe the term is misosuribouzu （味噌擂り坊主）, though I could be wrong.

味噌擂り坊主- lesser monk of low rank/a reference of contempt to a monk

I'm never hesitant to pimp out the fact that I'm a Japanese language student. I'm downright proud of it.

Me thinks someone needs to get their nose out of the air and back in the books. Apparently there's some studying to be done before lecturing and criticising others becomes a perogative.

I've studied the language on my own for two years (or so). I'm not fluent, I don't claim to be. Japanese isn't "hard" but it can be confusing as hell. In the time I've spent studying, I've learned that there are MANY, MANY students of the language like our little poster--contemptuous and haughty, quick to point fingers and put people down. Somehow, otakudom has bled over into the the realm of Japanese Language and well, we all know what kind of people otaku are. The best teachers I've had are native speakers in Japan; those who traded learning English for Japanese with me. Not only have I learned a lot about language, but I've learned a lot about the people as well. Still, I have a long way to go...

Some Nifty Sites for Aspiring Writers

Quantum Muse

Online Writing Workshop

Eye On Books

David Brin: Advice to New Writers

Critters Writers Workshop

--these places are for serious works of original fiction; meaning: don't join and then send fanfiction-- They want to see manuscripts of work that could be published.

Critters offers a great little blurb on how to PROPERLY REVIEW (note: Flamers, read this, you might learn something)

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On another note:

Here's a cool place for Fanfic Crits; if you're sensitive, don't bother posting your stuff; however, these people are honest and ready to help hash out the writing part of...er...writing...

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Another note:

I've been incredibly busy. Incredibly tired. Lots of stuff going on. Not that any of you care, but I figure I'd give a heads up to those who do. If I haven't gotten back to you or posted any "projects" lately, please be patient.

Thanks again! You're all great!

Bleach and Naruto Updates....

Renji dies!

Kidding...

It is April Fools day...

Anyway...I shouldn't joke about that. I thought he'd had it there for awhile, considering Aizen had him and Rukia trapped. As I predicted, Ichigo shows up and blocks Aizen's killing blow while Renji cowers before Aizen's hand. I have no clue what will happen next, but Ichigo is spent from his battle with Byakuya, so I don't predict this going well. Probably more plot revelations next week, but I'd like to see someone run Aizen and Gin through a couple times, spoon their brains out with a spoon, then hang their corpses to rot outside the gates of the soul society.

Aizen is a bastard.

That doesn't even do him justice.

I hated him before. Now I F***ing hate him.

Naruto is getting interesting again. Kankuro survives Sasori's poison. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura are going off to find Gaara. Sasori's grandma shows up and says she's going with them. She wants to show her grandson how much she "loves" him...

That old woman scares the hell out of me.

Anyway, they'd better hurry. Dedaria (or however you spell his name) and Sasori have delivered Gaara to the Akatsuki's base (?). Some creepy guy I thought was Sasuke for a minute comes out of the shadows and tells them they're late. (the leader maybe?) Then they begin this ritual to extract the tanuki from Gaara...(won't he die if that happens?)

Things I'd like to see happen in Naruto in the future.

1st: I want Itachi to kick Sasuke's ass, regardless of whatever powers Orochimaru has given him. Serve that little shit up a good dose of humble pie.

2nd: I want Naruto to kick Sasuke's ass, regardless of whatever powers Orochimaru has given him.

3rd: I want Sakura to kick Sasuke's ass, regardless of whatever powers Orochimaru has given him.

4th: Itachi kill Orochimaru (as if that will happen, but I can dream) and then laugh at Sasuke for being a dumbass.

5th: Kabuto needs to die. Soon.

I'm too lazy to do anime summaries today. To put it all in a nutshell, Ichigo and company have infiltrated the Shinigami Headquarters via giant firecracker. They explode in mid air and get seperated. Prepare for some cool fights (Kenpatchi!!!! yay!)

Meanwhile, in Naruto, Kimimaro dies. Yup. Gaara sinks him in the sand, gives him some time to think about how much he loves Orochimaru. He gets pissed because Gaara mocked him for being brainwashed, and bursts free...only to die before he can stab Gaara in the eye with some big gross bone thing in his arm. Yup...he just dies. That's it. Naruto and Sasuke are facing off. Lots of remembering going on. Stay tuned for the "Uchiha Show" in the next episodes. Seriously though, you'll learn some stuff about Sasuke's messed up family... (his dad was a dick).

PS- I still think there's more to Itachi's reasoning that "I wanted to see how strong I was." That would be pretty lame... Guess we'll see when the brothers go head to head again.

Okay, I'm off to finish some much needed project! *heh* Have a good weekend folks!