July 31, 2006
FSM Hatemail
Some Christians hate the Flying Spaghetti Monster. They hate him so much they send him hate mail. Careful bible thumpers, you might be cursed with irritable bowl syndrome if you continue your crusade of blasphemy against his Noodleness.
Disclaimer: This is a joke. If you have no sense of humor, please stick a fork in your eye. That is all.
July 30, 2006
White Oleander
So I just finished reading the book, "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch. It took me a day and a half to read the entire thing. Wordy and elaborate prose usually isn't my cup of tea, but this story spoke to me on many levels and I found myself whisked away along Astrid's journey to adulthood.
I was amazed at how vivid Astrid's story was written, every little detail was posed perfectly. The people were so real: the trailer trash Jerry Springer former alcoholic born again Christian, the overweight Mary Kay maniac, the nerdy little boy who collected fossils and made poster of animal scat and paw prints, the hard nosed and unfeeling case worker, the sociopath dictator from Argentina, the girls full of 'hate for whitey' and 'ethnic pride'. The list goes on and on. Every character had a spark of life, something we could all identify with on some level or another.
Ingrid, Astrid's psychopathic poet mother breathed life into the story. Never have I read a character so sinister and evil. Her words, always poison, always deadly. But also so sad. A deluded, confused woman, always spinning events into an alter-reality in her own head. Even from her prison cell, she hunted, haunted, taunted her daughter.
And Astrid, telling her story through her childhood eyes. How she worshiped her beautiful and dangerous mother, watching her every move, believing the lies and half truths of a murderous poet. Then her mother killed a man and the foster care began. Alone, no family, no friends, Astrid began her own journey through life.
Foster care wasn't kind to Astrid. It was in the houses of people fit not even to keep their own children that she learned not to fight the world as her mother did, but instead, survive in it. Often by any means necessary. Lost in a failed system that was supposed to protect her, a gentle, quiet girl became hard, cold, and calculating.
But somehow Astrid kept her curiosity and her longing for a place to belong, someone to just tell her she mattered. That was enough to keep a spark of compassion alive. Not about to lose her humanity--or worse, become like her mother--she struggled to understand the people who hurt her and those who at least tried to give a damn about her.
Wounded and jaded, mistrustful and angry, she managed to survive the system and her mother. But the future is uncertain, life is uncertain. Not sure where or what she is going to do, she tries to be content with what was and what would never be.
July 24, 2006
The Most Irritating Thing in the World
The Canon P1-DH V Printing Calculator. Guaranteed to make you tear your hair out, swear like a drunken pirate, and want to run over small animals. This, my friends, is the most evil device in the name of electronics. Trust me, more complicated than a quantum therom and probably difficult enough to give even Einstein nightmares, it will have you second guessing your own intelligence and screaming, "It's just a F&#@ing calculator!" whilst bursting into tears.
Free hand is faster than the time it takes to figure out how to load the paper...and I'm not even sure how long that actually is considering I gave up after a half hour. And forget directions in Chinese! They don't even bother to give you directions--probably only to make you wonder exactly how stupid you are.
OHNOEZ! Ichigo = Black Power Ranger
So the Bleach cast was announced for the US the other day.
Ichigo - Johnny Yong Bosch
Rukia - Michelle Ruff
Isshin - Patrick Seitz
Karin - Kate Higgins
Orihime - Stephanie Sheh
Tatsuki - Wendee Lee
Ishida - Derek Stephen Prince
Of course, the otaku are clawing their faces (not enough to rip them off, sadly), and screaming about TEH SUXXORZ!
Especially when it comes to Ichigo--who will be voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch. Their issue, Bosch played the Green and Black Power Ranger. Of course, the otaku are too stupid to take a look at his other works, such as:
Yuki in Grandia III (an excellent, excellent performance and probably one of the best game dubs I've heard)
Richard Traydor in Star Ocean 3 (another decent dubbed game)
Gankutsuou as Albert (another great job *my favorite anime ever*)
Full Metal Alchemist (a fanastic dub)
Ghost in the Shell as J (once again, very nice dub)
Samurai Champloo (awesome dub)
Trigun as Vash (super performance)
Witch Hunter Robin (score another good dub for him)
Wolf's Rain (ding ding, and another)
I'm pretty confident he'll pull off a decent, if not great Ichigo. The guy has the talent and skill to make it happen.
As do the others. The cast list isn't a shabby one, by no means.
Performances by Michelle Ruff include Alice and Ouka from Shadow Hearts (sniff), Ameena and Sophia from Star Ocean, Miranda from Grandia III (awesome job!), Ghost in the Shell, GTO, Gungrave as Maria, Wolf's Rain, etc.
Patrick Seitz has Hellsing's Luke Valentine under his belt as well as Texhnolyze (a great dub).
Kate Higgins had a stint on Ghost in the Shell TV. She's also Sakura in Naruto (one of the better voices, I must say).
Stephanie Sheh is another Ghost in the Shell actor, as well as Naruto's Hinata.
Wendi Lee...well, let's just say she's got more on her resume than all the others put together.
Derek Stephen Prince is another Power Ranger and also played chaos in Xenosaga. Also a Ghost in the Shell vet, as well as bit parts in Kenshin and Trigun.
I have hope for the Bleach dub. It's also nice to see voices that aren't so well known being cast. It gets annoying to hear a character and start thinking of every other character that's had that exact same voice (Freeman, anyone?).
Oh, and the whole, OMG! He was a Power Ranger is about the stupidest thing I ever heard. When will people learn the difference between actors and the characters they play?
July 22, 2006
Screw Yahoo
I'm so done with Yahoo. I don't know what the hell is up with them lately, but I've had nothing but trouble with their services. First my email goes all wonky, now my stupid messenger is dead. Worked fine two days ago. I've tried reinstalling it, changing my sign on, etc. Nothing works.
They've driven me back to MSN Messenger and now I feel like I've sold my soul to the devil.
July 20, 2006
July 19, 2006
Just...no...
Here it comes. We've been pretty lucky actually, despite all my complaining about it being hot here. Temps hover between 90 to 98 most days, which is bareable (uncomfortable but doable). It's been a few weeks where we've had sweltering weather, but that's all about to change.
Everyone is watching the news and the predicted temps keep climbing and climbing. On Monday, our weekend high was supposed to be 105--now it's 107. We're all wondering if we'll break that 110 mark, maybe even 112.
Not that I'd like to see that happen. I'd prefer it to be 80 degrees in the summer and just stay there. The hottest I ever remember it being here is 117--and I wasn't exactly at home. I was in LA when my grandma told us over the phone. My family was pretty happy we were there (where it was like 98) and not back home.
Needless to say, I don't plan on leaving my house at all this weekend. Hopefully the airconditioner doesn't crap out on us (my greatest fear).
July 17, 2006
Tuition
Why is college tuition so damn friggen high? While I'm still luckier than most that my community college is 75 dollars per credit, I'm totally baffled at the expense of it all. Next thing you know, they'll be asking for your first born child.
Today I dropped $405 bucks for one stupid class this fall. I remember when I was first in college, years ago (not all THAT long, really), and 400 bucks was about the cost for Full Time status. Now it's the cost for one damn class.
It sort of pisses me off. I mean, you have to get some sort of education to get a decent job anymore, but what the hell do you do when you can't afford it? Starve?
July 16, 2006
I'd like to adopt this child...just so I could put the fear of GOD into his sorry little ass. It would go something like this, I think:
Kid-- You're mess'n me up! That's bullshit! Get me my mother-f**ing chocolate milk!
Me--*foot goes through TV and X-box is smashed against the wall*
The end
Oh god, if my kid EVER talked to me like this, I'd probably end up in prison...Thankfully, he wouldn't ever dare.
July 15, 2006
Death Note
What happens when a bored death god drops his notebook? What happens when a bored genius finds it? And what happens when two geniuses go head to head in a battle of wits over life and death?
Lots of people die.
Death Note is a movie based off of the popular Japanese comic about a bored young man named Light Yagami who finds a strange notebook titled, "Death Note". He quickly discovers that the notebook has the power to kill anyone whose name is written in its pages. He decided that it is now his job to cleanse the world of all evil.
But where, exactly, are the lines between good and evil?
Light sees the chance to make a utopia of peace for the world--by killing the criminals. With the Death Note, all he has to do is watch then news to begin his dream.
When criminals start dying mysteriously, the police force, lead by Light's father, bring in a genius detective who's name is simply known as "L". L rapidly pin-points the murderer's location in Japan and Light finds himself with a nickname, "Killer".
And so the cat and mouse game between to geniuses begins. Light realizes that L is cunning and quite possibly more intelligent than himself. Time is of the essence and the two of them battle to expose the identity of the other.
On the side-lines, Ryuk the shinigami who purposely dropped the Death Note, watches with great amusement. "Humans are so interesting," he says.
The rules of the Death Note:
1.) The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
2.) This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
3.) If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.
4.) If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.
5.) After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 400 seconds (6 minutes and 40 seconds).
6.) Whether the cause of the individual's death is either a suicide or accident, if the death leads to death of more than the intended, the person will simply die of a heart attack, this is to ensure that other lives are not influenced.
7.) If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name.
8.) Even after the individual's name, the time of death, and death condition on the Death Note were filled out, the time and condition of death can be altered as many times as you want, as long as it is changed within 6 minutes and 40 seconds from the time it was filled in. But, of course, this is only possible before the victim dies.
9.) The time and conditions of death can be changed, but once the victim's name has been written, the individual's death can never be avoided.
10.)The human who uses this note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.
(there are many more rules, but I'm too lazy to write them all down)
Death Note: The Movie premiered on June 17th in Japan. It is the first of two installments. The second will open in October, finishing up the game between Light and L.
In October, an anime based on the manga will begin.
I started reading the comic, but stopped due to the long monologues. This story in a comic format (as good as it is), is hard to read. I'm happy to see it become a movie, and I'd be even happier to see it as a live action drama--which I believe is the medium that suits it best. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, and I'd recommend anyone who likes police thriller dramas to watch it as well.
July 10, 2006
Fire Under Your Ass
Today a truck at work caught on fire. I'm saddened I didn't get to see this happen, but I did get to call the tow truck and mechanics and tell them to make sure to battery cables were disconnected before they towed it to the show. Didn't want it to burst into flames again.
I already need another vacation. Today was the day that never ended. It was like running up hill on a mountain of marbles. Tomorrow is going to be worse...
Ah well, at least I'm busy, busy, busy.
Besides work being an utter chaotic nightmare, I'm cleaning my room--which is almost as stressful. I made the mistake of going shopping with my mom the other day. I hate shopping with her because I always buy stuff. This time was no different. We went looking for school supplies and stuff. Pretty simple. Except I came home with a new computer desk and a speakers for my computer. *heavy sigh* Really though, I got a good deal on a nice desk with a hutch. And the speakers are good ones that were on sale too. 150 bucks for everything, which I can't complain about. I needed a computer desk BADLY and my speakers were starting to kaput too.
Unfortunatly, that meant I had to build something. I got halfway through putting the stupid desk together only to realize the assholes didn't give me enough of the long screws. I had to race to store to buy some. Of course they didn't have the right size, but I got the next closest and made them work. *muwahahaha*
That was yesterday. Today it feels like I've been lifting elephants. My whole body aches and I have--I kid you not--a screw driver shaped bruise on my hand. Not to mention my wrist hurts like a son of a bitch.
My room is a total disaster. I've got so many books I don't know what to do with them all. There's no room for them really, so I've been making piles of stuff that has got to go. A ton of manga and dvds are waiting sadly for a box(s) to be packed in. Not only that, I can't believe how much CRAP I have. Just junk I never throw away that sits around taking up space.
This project will take me at least a week or two. I haven't even started on the closet or under the bed (scary).
Sometime in the near future I need to buy a new futon and a new stand for my TV. But that's a ways off and I'm not up to building anything else anytime soon.
July 07, 2006
July 05, 2006
Back From Seattle
I'm back from Seattle. I had a good time. It's always nice to get away for a bit. I spent a shit load of money, which I feel guilty about, but oh well. That's what vacations are about. My sister's neighborhood sounds like Beruit on the 4th of July. I stood outside for a little bit last night and watched the show. Pretty cool. I tried to get some pictures of it too, but they didn't turn out very well. We BBQ'd too and watched movies (gotta buy Howl's Moving Castle!).
At the same time, it's always nice to come home too. I missed the kiddo quite a bit, but I've got a few days left of vacation where we can hang out. Friday we're going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2. I'm SO excited! My sis, brother in law, and I went to see Superman--which was suprisingly good. I'd even go see it again. Very impressed. Got to see the new Spiderman trailer too.
Next week I need to go pay for school and one of these days I need to go buy my copy of FF12. *sigh* After that, I'll have to button down the hatches and start stockpiling my cash for this winter.
Well, time to go take a breather. I've been in a car all morning. Oddly enough, I didn't run into traffic until I got home... Weird. I'll post pictures later!
Bye!