I am now 26, officially past the midway point of my twenties.

It's odd but in recent times, everytime I thought about myself in a relationship off the top of my head, I was with a woman. I'm not sure what that means, but it's interesting to think about.

I'll be putting up my giant sales post of merchandise from Japan tomorrow! Things for sale will include the complete set of Macross F cell phone character charms, Kuroshitsuji Little Accessories, and lots of little Moyashimon figurines. I'll put it up on my f-list for one day before posting to the relevant LJ comms, so that you guys can have a pick

Speaking of which, I've been wanting to share this forever! My pencilbox (that I bought from Muji in Tokyo) carries a few little anime trinkets. A couple of them are from the Gundam00 Little Accessories collection: these are random little metal tchotchkes that come in tin boxes. For b00bies, each of the charms are supposed to be symbolic of a certain character. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense. Sometimes it makes all too much. 


I got two of them. The one on the left is a pair of linked (sparkly!) rings, one pink and one purple. It is, apparently, supposed to be representative of Tieria. My sister says it probably represents his glasses, but I think it might have more to do with fake boobs er, this than any.

Guess who the other one represents.




And before I go! Here's a bunch of pictures of some of the stuff that I will be selling. EXCITING, NON?




I know, I know, I still owe you guys the Japanese food post. I SORRY. I SLOW. orz

Haven't been blogging Japan because a) tired, and b) figured I was boring most of my friendslist based on the dwindling number of comments. So no full blogposts from me. Instead, have the Flickr photostreams.

Most of the streams aren't too detailed because time spent shopping == nothing particularly photograph-worthy, but I did put in some lengthy explanations on some of the photos I did take, so they're worth checking out if you're interested (particularly the Washinomiya day).

Tomorrow we head to the Tsukiji fish market in the morning so that might be something more interesting. The day after that I fly back to Singapore.


Day 6: Ikebukuro
10 photos


Day 7: The Lucky Star shrine (Washinomiya)
44 photos


Day 8: Shibuya
7 photos, 3 videos





I'm tired and I want to go home.

AIKBA! A day spent navigating up and down one cramped, crazy multisensory, multifloor store after another. Akiba, the venerable Mecca of otaku the world over, was a long street filled with tall skinny buildings all trying to outshout each other as throngs of geeks made their way down it, occasionally vanishing into one of the shining, gaping maws that awaited them. Was it an eye-opener? Most certainly. Would I want to go again? I'd say yes, but my wallet is sitting in a corner screaming "No! No! NO!" You figure it out.

We spent the day there, going in succession from Kotobukiya, K-Books, Gamers, Asobit Chara City, the @thome maid cafe, Toranoana, and Animate. Each of the shops was overflowing, absolutely overflowing, with varying portions of CDs, DVDs, games, manga, doujinshi, hobby kits and character goods. The madness didn't end where the merch did: the walls, the stairs, the gantries, even the interior of the damn lifts were literally plastered over with posters, ads, prices, and more anime than the eyes could stand. I didn't take many pictures of the places we went: where the hell would I start? Akihabara is not a place, it's an experience.

The absolute best part of our day was the time we spent in the maid cafe. We weren't actually planning on going, but we needed to find a place to sit down and sort through the stuff we'd bought, and we had been given directions to the place by my sister's otaku guy friend, so we decided to give it a try. What we found inside was a delight: the maids were cheerful and friendly, who held a rock-paper-scissors game for all the patrons, taught us to do a little "MOE, MOE, KYUNN~" handsign-and-chant thing before tucking into our sweets, and talked to us despite our general failure in speaking Japanese. One of the maids serving us saw us sorting through the b00bies doujin we'd bought and told us she was a fan of the series too (she liked Lockon and Patrick). When she saw the Tieria-centric ecchi doujin menelvir had bought for me, she said "Banshi ni attai suru!" Which was the title of the doujin, but left us all in a fit of senseless giggles anyway. menelvir asked another of the maids about the ring she was wearing which was this little thing with a faux macaroon on it, because she wanted to see if she could buy one like it. But it turned out that the girl had made it herself, and then she insisted on giving it to menelvir. Oh man! We left the cafe feeling slightly guilty about it, but also completely bubbly and giggly-- it gets infectious. I highly recommend visiting this cafe if you're ever in Akiba, it takes up several floors on a building on the left of the first big cross junction after coming out of the station. (@thome cafe's website)

The worst part of the day, if I had to say, was probably our time in K-books while we were browsing through the used CD section, which was also in the doujin and character good section. That place just gave off... weird vibes, from the body pillows on sale to the shelves of hentai stuff all over, and the men there who were giving us all sorts of strange looks. We three were the only girls in that entire half of the store, and it felt really skeezy in a way that the normal, non-yaoi hentai doujin part of Toranoana didn't (even though the latter had ginormous nipples on display everywhere you looked. Everywhere, I assure you). Maybe guys would have been comfortable hanging up, but we certainly weren't.

What else can I say about Akiba? By the end of the day we had bags filled with anime merch of all sorts, gotten entirely sick of the theme songs to K-on (they were playing in every shop we went into. EVERY shop), and spent more money than we had capacity to not feel guilty for. I'm just thoroughly glad that I'm not a huge fan of any of the anime series that have come out this year, or I would be much, much poorer.

( Pictures of the shops, and my swag! )

And finally, a catalogue of the stuff that I couldn't take out and photograph in public. I have no idea why I thought making a video of it would be a good idea, since I hate my voice and how dumb I sound when I talk, but there you go.




Today's flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/sets/72157618685353139/

Tomorrow: Ikebukuro, and a butler cafe!

Our first full day in Tokyo passed in a madness of shopping and elbowing through crowds of people. I went to Harajuku intending to spend money, and spend money I did. Something like six tops, two skirts, a bunch of leggings, and a whole plethora of accessories to go along with. Packed ¥30,000 (about USD300) into my wallet and spent almost all of it. Along the way, managed to grab some good food, meet some of Tokyo's more outrageous denizens, and have dinner with dilettantka and hinoai. Sugoi.

The main attraction, for us, was Takeshita dori, the little street that could--crammed from end to end with shops hawking clothes and bags and accessories for the trendy kids of Tokyo. And it's got benri--convenience--down to an art: get off the train at Harajuku, follow the big bright signs that say "Takeshita dori", and bam! The street is right in your face the moment you step out of the ticket gantry. No maps needed. Just cross the road and you're on your way to a day's worth of browsing the colorful, beckoning, overflowing stores down its maybe-hundred-and-fifty meter length.

Here's a very brief pictorial recap of our day there-- mostly I was too busy buying stuff to take pictures.


One of the places we patronized hugely was this shop called ACDC Rags, which had multiple outlets around Takeshita dori. They sold all sorts of punk apparel, frills and checkers and skulls and metal studs. I bought a pair of boots and a sling bag from them.


( Cosplayers, and madness )

Here's a little video of Meiji-jingu-mae, where my sister wonders about the nose strip popularized by (I believe) the Gazette's Reita.

Tomorrow we head to Akiba: Otaku heaven!

Day three had been reserved for traveling: from Kyoto back to Tokyo, and then bashing around Tokyo until we'd finally located our hostel, and then riding on the Yamanote line like crazy bastards getting used to commuting in Japan.

It went sort of something as planned.


We walked back to the Kyoto Tower to do some last-minute souvenir shopping. And while we were there, we saw something quite unusual--or perhaps quite usual, by Japanese standards:


Then it was Shinkansen time, back to Tokyo. We ate bento we bought from the station, as well as a few mementoes we got from Kyoto:


We got to Tokyo and onto the Yamanote line without a hitch. That wasn't the hard part of our trip. The hard part... was to come later.


( Getting lost in Tokyo! )

And here is the video of the day: the Ameyoko open air market. Deliciously crowded and lively.


Here's the flickr stream for Day 3. As usual, bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos later-- I will probably upload more after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

NEXT UP: HARAJUKU AND THE WALL OF PEOPLE... or so I've heard about the conditions of Harajuku on a Sunday. But we must catch the cosplayers and the Goth Lolis in action!

P.S. I know I have a metric shiton of comments to get back to on the previous posts-- sorry! I will get to them... eventually. A bit short of time here, I am.

So! Day 1 in Japan with pkyyr and menelvir. After a long overnight journey which was so empty I got to sleep across a row of chairs in cattle class, we arrived in Japan, and spent the next six hours shuttling from highspeed train to highspeed train until we finally arrived in Kyoto.

Kyoto/Hiroshima is the scenic leg of our trip, all culture and scenery and sane, not-at-all-brain-melting things. Or at least, as un-brain-melty as it can get when it involves people like my sister and I.

A brief pictorial recap!


We arrived in Tokyo in the morning, struggled out of the airport and somehow managed to not only buy our passes, get our tickets and locate the train, but also do so without getting lost. 2 years of Japanese language studies have paid off, apparently!



I did some Japanese studying on the train journey there, which was a rather cramped and uncomfortable affair for someone traveling with 10 days' baggage. I was up to the eyes in stuff, and I kept elbowing the poor salaryman in the seat next to mine everytime I tried to retrieve something from my bag.


It took us a bloody long time (and a lot of trekking, 10 days' baggage and all) before we managed to locate K's House Kyoto, shoved into a small side street. After checking in, a sort-of lunch and a quick shower, we set out to explore on foot and search for Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺)-- the love shrine, and I don't mean the dirty sort. It's old, it's famous, and it's also right on top of a hill overlooking the city.

( A bajillion pictures of Kyoto and Kiyomizu-dera )

And that's my very brief recap of the day. I leave you here with a video I shot while we were walking through the tiny back streets of Kyoto. I call it "The Trouble With Tomare". JSYK, "Tomare (止まれ)" means "STOP!" in Japanese.




Here's the flickr stream for Day 1. Bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos of Kyoto-- I have tons more, which I will probably upload after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

Up next: Day 2, Day Trip To Hiroshima! Hopefully, I'll be able to get some blogging done tomorrow since we apparently arrive back at the hostel fairly late. If not, you'll hear from me on Saturday when we finally get back to Tokyo.

HARO LOVE FRIENDING MEME

Hullo to the new people I've added. I feel a little guilty about it because I should have added a caveat that I've been the worst LJ friend ever of late, for various reasons that I might explain later.

Still, welcome! I promise I don't bite, and at worst I'll become the silent lurker on your f-list whom you will look at in a couple months' time and go, "Who is this person? She never talks!" remember it's always the quiet ones

Anyhow, IMs are the way to go if you want to chat regularly with me; I'm on for an absurdly large number of hours a day. IM CONTACT EXCHANGE!

AIM: mizhallelujah
YIM: littlemisshallelujah
Google Talk: little.miss.hallelujah
Skype: miss.hallelujah

Also, if you have a Twitter account, I Twitter obsessively and you can keep track of the shenanigans at work (I'm a screenwriter; I write animation for kids), of the Internet links that tickle me, of the songs that I'm loving (I up and share stuff on it), and just... the stuff that passes through my mind every two hours or so. I'm misshallelujah on Twitter! Go follow me! ♥



...hahahHAHAHAHAHAAH my sister just came into my room and said "I JUST READ ALL THE CODE GEASS SPOILERS WTFFFFFFFFFF" Ahahahah WHUT she hasn't watched actual episodes of the show since THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST SEASON.

My conclusion is that Geass? Is the anime version of Twilight. PEOPLE WATCH IT KNOWING IT'S CRAP SOLELY BECAUSE THEY WANT THE LULZ THEY GET OF IT.

But seriously, I can't believe I almost nearly cried at the ending. I went through episodes 12-25 in a marathon run between yesterday and today, and I ridiculed my way through the whole thing, and the ending still made me cry? Damn, Sunrise, I'm not going to let your cheap emotional shots get the better of me!

Also, Sunrise? If you make S2 of b00bies anywhere near that level of ridiculousness? I will not be a happy camper. Not a happy camper at all.

Don't do it please! Gundam == SRS BZNS. Not LULZ! When you mix SRS BZNS with LULZ you end up with Sarah Palin! D: D: D:

Sorry, Sunrise & Apple Inc., but you guys just set yourselves up for this too easy.




Except for Milena's skirt, which was jarringly turquoise. And Lockon, whose flightsuit is actually a pretty depressing shade of dark green. Nothing you couldn't fix in a few seconds on Photoshop, though. Sorry, Nena, but Tieria was rocking the color purple way before you even existed.

NANOCHROMATIC CELESTIAL BEING. ♥

It makes me sad that they've finally made an ORANGE-colored iPod only after I finally get my iPhone and have no further need to get another mp3 device. :( I've always wanted an orange iPod, it's not fair.

@ thurisaz83: I SCANNED THE CLAMP GEASS MINIFOLDER PICTURE FOR YA. Ya know, the one with Suzaku & Lelouch with wings wearing a pair of earrings that are JOINED BY A CHAIN (what, CLAMP, wouldn't that make the sex really hurt?) This one, yes. I actually got both the version printed on paper and the version scanned in hi-res, but the paper is textured so that one didn't come out to well, unfortunately. Hi-res scans right here (free for anybody to gank, actually)


Finally, WTF, MACROSS:




Somebody please tell me this actually happened in canon. Please. I wouldn't know since I've only got up to episode 20, but you can never have too many cross-series references in Macross. \o\



...Macross Frontier still Needs Moar Max, though.

Long story short: a while ago I ordered one box of the b00bies Portrait figure series 2 from Hobbylink Japan. But when I saw the billing I was quite shocked that it was quite a bit more expensive than I'd bargained for. So like any dutiful person with an ounce of common sense I went back to the website and checked it out.

And then I realized.

I had, indeed, ordered one box.

One box of ten.

Suffice to say, it arrived, and I found I had surplus copies of everything. But to be honest, that wasn't the weird thing. I was expecting that.

The weird thing. I don't know how else to say it. Seems like the figurines had some kind of accident on the way here.



Anyway, box of ten, so I got 2 Somas, 2 Marinas, 2 Grahams, 2 Setsunas, 1 Alle and 1 Halle. Beautiful, perfect symmetry that Death the Kid would approve of. In any case, I'm keeping the H/Alles (you can put their heads on backwards!), one Marina and one Soma. The Setsunas are likely going to aestalitz and menelvir.

Which leaves, if I carried over all the ones correctly: 1 Soma, 1 Marina, and 2 Grahams up for sale. Who wants them? I'm thinking of letting them go for US$8 each (excluding shipping). The box bottoms are all opened but otherwise the figurines are exactly as they came, i.e. dismembered body parts wrapped in plastic bags. Hey, don't look at me, it was BANDAI that did it.

I also guarantee that they will come with the correct heads attached. I SWEAR TO GOD.

In the meantime, though, Halle already started integrating himself with the rest of my gashapon collection.


I foresee great success in his future.


I was selling Code Geass stuff here but somebody bought them, so... move along, nothing to see here.

THE DOUJIN SUBMISSION WORK IS ALL DONE.

My credits section, my cover contribution (in color!asfdjkla), the text for stupidsexystrip, the text for  stupidsexystrip credits section-- all done!

To further tease and titillate you guys, here's my contribution to the cover for the doujin anthology. Time constraints == sloppy lineart and color work, but I like the palette! and I figure it would amuse some on my f-list




Oh yes I did. I was originally assigned Shirin and Marina but asked to do Hong Long and Liu Mei instead because I'm not sure I could have resisted giving Marina a Minbari headcrest.

Of course, underhand Macross references are TOTALLY OKAY.

I've had a great weekend so far, actually. Japanese class was awesome and we're slated to start learning plain form next week, which means it won't be so weird when my sister and I start saying Things We Learnt From Watching Anime which are in plain form. Hurrah!

Also, my sister should have learnt by now that muttering things like "I want to read lots of ecchi manga" in response to "What would you like to do if you went to Japan?" will result in me SAYING IT ALOUD FOR HER. So that we can get our sensei to make "TT_____TT" faces at us. (And she really does.) TAKUSAN NA ECCHI MANGA WO MITAKOTO SHITAI DE~SU~~

And now, a bunch of questions that have been BURNING AT ME and that I NEED TO ASK. First couple compiled in poll form because People Are Sometimes Too Lazy Too Leave Comments (I myself am often guilty of that vice.) And also because it's easier for me to count the votes (see section about me being Lazy). You can leave the question blank if it's not relevant to you! Really! TRUFAX.

SNAP LJ POLL GET

Poll #1197441
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

#1! Are you getting the b00bies doujin anthology? Just a honestly curious question, no obligations at all! Humor me.

#2! Should I scan the Newtype June b00bies poster in high-res? Just got it yesterday. It's the one of the Meisters flopped on a patch of grass; I've seen pictures of it being used as icons so I'm not sure if another scan of it was neccessary. Should I do it?

#3! Is the 2nd volume of the b00bies manga by Ohmori Kouzoh out yet? I saw the second volume of the other version in Kinokuniya yesterday, the one by Auto Somebody that is not published by Kadokawa. I didn't get it even though it had Allelujah on the cover--money is particularly tight this month (bills and taxes, family stuff). Does anyone know if the Kadokawa one is out? And if it is, what's the ISBN number (so I can go bug Kinokuniya about it)?

#4: If I sold a bunch of Code Geass omake on LJ, would people buy them? I seriously have a lot of Geass stuff just sitting in my room that came with anime magazines that I bought-- 3 different clear files, a mobile phone cleaning strap, a double sided B2 Soul Eater/Geass R2 poster, a handtowel, papercraft Pizza Hut box (for srs!), an art booklet... I was thinking of selling off the whole lot for US$10-15; think anyone would want to buy it?


..and that's it for now.

I know I've been a complete failure at reading my f-list and responding to comments these past entire two weeks, BUT I PROMISE I'LL GET BETTER. You still love me, right?


P.S. Oh, Geass. Rollo's official romanization? LOLO. EL OH FUCKEN EL OH. When I realized this after looking at the Newtype clear file I got yesterday, I had a laughing fit in the classroom. Thank goodness it was half an hour before class started and the room was otherwise empty.

My sister (Her Highness pkyyr) and I make collaborative fandom jokes, because WHEN OUR POWERS COMBINE WE CAN TAKE OVER THE UNIVERSE!!!!, don'cha know?

Here's a video born of a three-line joke I wanted to make, which my sister then expanded on and vidded like the jenius genius she is. (Fuck you, Macross, stop screwing with my brain.**) This is the second version, modified to accomodate Soul Eater (and because I'm an annoying prick). MITTE MITTE WATCH IT GO.



(Should I post this to gundam00? Should I? Should I?)

Now all I have to do is to finally put together the art for the Incredible Japanese Pun she made like half a year ago and we'll be all set. (I am a failure as a sister. D'oh.) Seriously, Setsuna's "Kono sekai ni kami wa inai" is a neverending source of entertainment for us. Especially when we were learning the nai forms in Japanese class and kept repeating it everytime "inai" came up in a flashcard session. Inai inai inai.

Also, I feel that I should mention that I won't be able to read my f-list much over the course of the coming couple of weeks, on account of the doujin-finishing, and work-script-finishing, you know, all that pesky stuff. So, yeah, I'm not deliberately ignoring you guys or anything. DROP ME A LINE IF THERE'S ANYTHING SUPER IMPORTANT THAT YOU WANT ME TO SEE. i'm like, a total failure as a friend orz


The End!

**Speaking of Macross, why can I not stop watching the junk that is Macross 7? It's like a can of Pringles, I know it's bad for my health but I just. can't. stop. popping. Actually, it Needs Moar Max. In his spiffy military hat and formal uniform. Dammit it's like they discovered my secret weakness for men in formal military gear. And hats. ASFDJKLA I ♥ Max so much.

I brought a proper sketchpad to work today and pencilled out another test panel for the doujin. And then inked it. Same way, with fine Pigma Micron pens.





So, apparently, it is scale and the paper that messes it up. Granted, the linework is a bit borked, but that was a result of borked pencilling, nothing to do with the inking.

By the way, everybody who wandered by my desk and had a look at the drawing as I was working on it went away saying "OMG JUNE YOU ARE SO EVIL". Everybody. Sometimes they even added little "WARGH!" sound effects! Apparently, submitting cute chubby-cheeked children to pain and torment is considered evil, who knew?

I also did some test inking of my earlier sketches with manga pens.

( I think Moleskine notebooks just do not like inks, at all. Must look for the sketchbook versions )



In other news, Soul Eater and Macross Frontier are awesome shows and you should go watch them. I am officially in love with Death the Kid (Miyano Mamoru keeps getting to voice all these incredibly epic characters, I swear), and I want Ranka to sing her sad little lullaby song every episode because it is beautiful and it is haunting and why did they not keep it as an ending song after episode one.

And oh, should I mention that Macross F's protagonist is a pretty ex-kabuki actor pilot voiced by Graham Aker's seiyuu who has Billy's hairstyle and is obviously really Graham and Billy's secret lovechild continually referred to as "hime-sama" by Tieria's seiyuu's character?

Yeah.

I did not realize that MY BOYFRIEND IS A PILOT is a real, actual song. ALL THE WHILE I THOUGHT IT WAS IT WAS A JOKE ASFDJKLA JOUDAN JA NAI KA?!?

So, I'm watching the first episode of Soul Eater, right?

And it turns out that the titular character wants to get promoted... and become a Death Scythe.

Death Scythe.

DEATH. SCYTHE.




I don't even watch Wing and I died laughing.

That's not even covering how the translator seems to have the impression that the people who wield them are called Meisters. (Although it's not in the Japanese as far as I can tell, and I can't figure out if it's a joke on the part of the subbers, or if it's something off the manga.) AGH, that word was a perfectly normal German borrow-word for me that I adored using in normal writing until anime came along, dammit.

Seriously, this series is made of such awesome crack... and I haven't even gotten to the part where Miyano Mamoru-as-Death the Kid shows up yet. FOR SRS, DUDE.

(Plus, is it scary that I recognized Takanori Nishikawa singing the title song right off the bat? LOL TMR I ♥ YOU)

Speaking of Deathscythe, I hit thurisaz83's place on Thursday and we built and photographed the above gunpla. Which is so freaking awesome that I have decided that I need one of my own. Which I will then assemble and put, bat wings and all, on the display shelf next to my new desk in my office.

The packaging, though. The packaging.

You know how gunpla always come with the stats of the Gundam, height weight and weaponry, and so on. This one was no different. All the usual, submachine guns and what not... and then one singular line that said "BEAM SCISSORS X1".

BEAM. SCISSORS.

Seriously guys, the word "scythe" is in the freaking Gundam's name. How could you not know this? CLUE UP: It's called Deathscythe, not DEATHSCISSORS. Beam scissors, oh god. "I KEEL YOU WITH MAH BEAM SCISSORS!!!!one!!!" *makes clippy finger motions*

But! But but! I GOT THE FIRST 25 EPISODES OF WING FROM thurisaz83! Yessss. No marathonning for me because I do not have that much time on my hands, but--

I get to watch Wing!

I get to figure out why everyone and their grandma's llama wants to rape Duo!

\o/



...I'm done now.

Minna, mitte! New scanning project in the works!



I did a few test scans and they scanned beautifully; I've already gotten the Meister pages scanned and I'm working on the spreads yoinked from Gundam Ace. I might scan the mecha pages too depending on how much harsh treatment the book can take. The binding is so scrappy and I brutalized the spine of the book so much that I've had the thing for an entire two days and PAGES ARE ALREADY FALLING OUT. WTF. The things I do for my f-list.

I'll put the scans up in batches (because I'm such a perverted tease), but I just had to share this blurb from Tieria's page:


Basically, if I'm reading this right, the official blurb on Tieria's appearance says: "Slimmest amongst the Meisters and appears to be of ambiguous gender sex. (ETA: I fail at Japanese/Chinese and in the morning, I realize that 性 refers directly to biological sex. Not sure if it covers gender, do not have proficient enough grasp of either language. FAIL) And his civvies are probably hiding the b00bs and the child-bearing hips" WHAT?! ASFDJKLA out loud!

Seriously, if Sunrise doesn't go somewhere with this in the next season I will be one disappointed fangirl.

In the meantime, I am throwing at you the thing which has been eating my brain all day, and that I have been flinging at IM windows like a bloody virus (and you can blame nightrays for inflicting it on me first).

THE GUNDAM B00BIES DANJOU DANCE

Switched to the far more awesome and hilarious version pointed out by swirling_chaos. WITH SUBTITLES!

Additionally, I've found ones for Death Note, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Suzumiya Haruhi.

But it took watching this one with text and helpful illustrations to realize that the whole song is UTTER NONSENSE about lining up people in boy-girl-boy-boy-girl-boy-girl formation. And the guy keeps getting it wrong and the teacher/group leader is like CHIGAU! YOKU KITTE! DO IT LIKE THIS OKAY. DAN JOU DAN DAN JOU DAN JOU [sound effect]. Oh my god. The whole song is just inane and makes NO SENSE.

But the one that has to take the cake is the Moyashimon overdub version. They filked the song with bacterial dialogue! KOU YATTE KAMOSE (ferment it like this)! It's utterly delighful and it doesn't take much Japanese to get the gist of it (I mean, I understood it and my Japanese is pretty much fail). If you know Moyashimon, you cannot not watch it. MINAKEREBA NARIMASEN.


...enough insanity for one day.

In my previous entry, I asked the entirely rhetorical question, "What would you do with a life-size, $724 million, fully functional Gundam?"

It was a mistake. The question has been bugging me all of today, hovering at the back of my mind like an annoying relative who just won't go away.

So, I have to find out. What does one do with a life-size, $724 million, fully functional Gundam?


Poll #1168810
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

If I had a life-size, $724 million, fully functional Gundam, it would be named:

And If I had a life-size, $724 million, fully functional Gundam, I would:

Celestial Being obviously don't know what they're missing out on.

EDIT: I realize that my poll is flawed! I do not have an option which reads "Consistently forget where I parked the damned thing, leading to multiple episodes of running around in panic screaming 'DUDE, WHERE'S MY GUNDAM!!???'"! I fail! Woe betide me! Fail!

Transgender man is pregnant

Okay, can the snarky mpreg jokes now; this is a real-life story of a transman who's chosen to bear his child with his biologically female organs. The debate on sex vs gender that's going on in the comments section is the most engaging thing I've read on BB in a long time.

And in a related thread:

Bad Questions to ask a Transsexual

Sex & gender are two issues which I have had running interest in for a long time, ever since I, at 17, realized that my sexuality wasn't quite in the same boat as everyone else's. In the five years that ensued, I went to college, attended a couple of classes on sex/gender issues, got a degree in cell & molecular biology, while struggling to come to terms with my own sexuality.

During that time, I came to embrace the opinion that sexuality, gender and genetic makeup don't always correlate. But they're not entirely divorced either. There are links between them, fuzzy links, and that leads to the whole spectrum of GLBT people. Like anything genetically polymorphic there are peaks, but there are also a whole lot of people who fall outside those peaks. And it's perfectly okay.

To realize that this isn't an opinion shared by so many people: it's sobering. A little heartbreaking.

The news is awesome, the bigotry in that thread not so much.

But speaking of posts on BoingBoing today, they finally caught up with this tidbit that everybody has been throwing at me for the past two days:

Gundam statue outside Tokyo train station

I seriously don' t see why everybody is making such a big fuss about a Gundam statue in TOKYO JAPAN, since it happens to be the place that the show is made. It's not even half as bizarre as say, Bruce Lee statues in a Bosnian towns. What makes it BoingBoingable material?

Well, maybe my opinion is biased. I guess stuff like this is perfectly normal to a person living in a country where public parks have statues of a man flushing a toilet, eh?

I would have posted this earlier, but Sunday was Simply Insane, aided and abetted by the fact that I'd picked an incredibly difficult dish to prepare for Monday's office potluck. One hour of peeling water chestnuts with a knife and my bare hands? Not fun.

As an aside, I'm terribly amused by the fact that I can hit the sharp edge of a knife blade against my finger fifty times and come away unscathed, but the moment I step into the office I mysteriously gain a half a dozen stationery-related injuries on my hands.

Firstly: tres important! NEW STUPID SEXY STRIP! I stayed up till 2AM last night fixing this up, alright, so I am running on three hours' sleep here. Go see the fruits of our labor, it's awesome!


(Stupid Sexy #5: Team Mates)

On Saturday night I went to watch Evangelion 1.01: You Are Not Alone with my sister and the otaku boys from her high school class. It was an awesome movie, great visuals, loved the music.

It also made about as much sense as a warthog dancing naked in an eggshell.

On one hand, I will never complain about the gaping plot holes in Gundam b00bies, ever again. On the other hand, I know just which anime series has just been added to my watching list during the b00bies season break.

You know what, b00bies really ought to do the "GIGANTIC SHOWERS OF BLOOD" thing. I want it to RAIN BLOOD FROM THE SKY, dammit! I love that!

Hey, maybe the B2 Newtype poster I have of Rei Ayanami might now come in useful. (I love her.)

Anyway, while I was walking through the mall waiting for my sister's friends to arrive, we passed by a gunpla store.

Repeat: We passed by a gunpla store.

Half an hour of bellyaching and writing "I WANT VIRTUE GUNPLAAAAA :(" all over my giant robot script that I'd brought to work on over dinner later:


I cost me seventy dollars local currency. Far, far, far too much money for an impulse buy, I swear. Do I care? Fuck, look at this thing! It's awesome! No, I don't care!


But, SHIT, SHIT, GAIZ, LOOKIT DEEZ:


I've been waiting for a Virtue gunpla that actually has a Nadleeh inside since like, forever (or more precisely, since episode 10). NOW I HAVE MY GRUBBY HANDS ON ONE, DO YOU SEE WHY I SPENT EVERY CENT OF THAT SEVENTY BUCKS NOW?

Unfortunately, however, that 20 page instruction booklet? 10 pages on how to assemble Nadleeh.

10 pages on how to turn Nadleeh into Virtue.

TEN PAGES.

Okay, granted, I didn't expect there to be a SURPRISE GUNDAM! button that I could push and have my gunpla magically purge all its armor and turn Magically Fabulous. But 10 pages? That's kind of overkill, isn't it? It's going to take ages. And where am I going to put all the loose armor pieces when I want to turn Virtue back into Nadleeh?

See, this the exact reason I cringed so hard in episode 19 when Tieria purged the armor in EARTH'S GRAVITY FIELD, in the vicinity of a LARGE BODY OF WATER. Recipe for disaster much? The thought of retrieving and putting all the pieces back made me shudder. I even ficc'd it.

I think I'm building Nadleeh, the penisbazooka, the rear cannons, and leaving it as it is. /lazy

/abuse of capslock

/dork

First off, all these files are mislabelled-- they are from the Animedia April 2008, and not Animage March as stated; I scanned these files right after reading spoilers for Gundam b00bies #23 so my brain wasn't screwed on in the right place.

Secondly, these were done with my new scanner, and would have been very pleased with the results, had the scanner not died after scanning these four things. Thankfully, we've gotten the defective unit replaced, so I have a few more scans I plan to do at 300dpi. Aside from Animedia April 08, I also have Animage April 08, and Newtype April 08. I will probably scan the cracktastic cover of the Animage, the gorgeous splash of the Meisters scowling from that same issue, the front and back covers of the Meister's Magazine that came with the Animedia, and the G-Fest Report comic pages that came in that Magazine thing. Anybody want anything else from those three magazines-- give me a shout!

Thirdly, I am very obviously trying to get over the trainwreck that is the b00bies fandom right now, so-- squee is much appreciated. This is what fandom is for! Fun! Squee! Non-srs bznz! I don't want to emo about it any longer. Squee is in order.

So. Scans. The Mediafire links go to 300dpi, very high res versions of each scan to the order of 3000x2000 px. As usual, let me know if you're taking them, credit me if you want to put them on your webpage, etc. Squee out loud!


Gundam b00bies:

First off, I have absolutely no idea what Allelujah is wearing. It looks like it died in some 1980s B-grade horror film and was brought back to life by necromancy. (Maybe that was their point.) Setsuna, of course, gets to be zombie/mummy, since he just has to shuffle around groaning "Gandamu... GANDAMUUUUU" with his arms outstretched--kind of his natural talent. Tieria, they just replaced the "b" with a "w", but thank you, Sunrise, thank you--it's not like I don't already get enough impulses to pair T-chan off with Yuki Nagato. (Awkwardest. date. ever.) And they DREW ON HARO WITH PERMANENT MARKER. That's just mean, dudes. Mean.

...Lockon as a vampire? Is Sunrise trying to tell us something?

[Download 3000dpi version from Mediafire]


Kyou Kara Maou!

Sis was like, Why is Wolfram wasting good sake tipping it all over Yuuri? I was like, How do you know it's sake? And she was like, What, it's water? I shook my head and said, You know, it's white. SPECIAL MILK--!

...my sister hates me sometimes.
[Download 3000dpi version from Mediafire]


( Code Geass )

( xxxHoLiC )

I don't play in the Gayass or 'Holic fandoms-- so anyone know if these are worth posting to relevant comms? Any comms you want to suggest linking these to?

This is probably not a good sign.

I watched Gundam b00bies #19. And throughout the entire Tieria/Lockon/Setsuna scene, I was yelling at the screen, "FUCK I WAS GOING TO WRITE THAT INTO A FIC... fuck, I was going to write that into a fic TOO. Fuck, Sunrise, don't steal my thunder! FUCK! SCOOPED! ...FUCK!"

I mean, I loved the scene to squidgy little bits, but the fun of writing fanfic is writing stuff that is anticipated by canon but not explicitly shown. There go half a dozen nice Tieria/Setsuna and Lockon/Setsuna drabbles, down the potty. I'll have to think of better. Possibly involving meatpie.

Also, the way the character interactions were laid out in this episode only strengthens the sneaky AlleTier fic I intend to write, so it's all a good thing, in the end.

I only wish they had spent more time on things blowing up and less time on "hey our animatics budget's running a bit short and this script is underrunning so we need recycled filler!" insert song AMVs.




NOT SO RANDOM!

( Stupid Sexy #2: Word Games)
Lockon shows off his massive vocabulary

There's seriously a lot of good crack behind that link, primarily because the entire community appears to be composed of a fine selection of lunatics, and rich, ripe insanity is born of lunatics talking to each other. GO AND PARTAKE OF THE PSYCHEDELIC GOODNESS. LELOUCH DE BRITANNIA COMMANDS YOU.



...it is quite obviously far past midnight and far past the time I could have stayed awake lucid.

For no good reason at all, I was catching up on the new season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, until I innocently got to the third episode. And. [insert copious keymashing here]

Screencaps.


...what. WHAT.

 
El oh el. PASH! is written by people who have been sampling of the good crack. There's never been a PASH! b00bies article that has failed to provide hours and hours of entertainment to my sister and myself. And this despite the fact that between the two of us we really only understand six words of Japanese (baka, hentai, yaoi, suteki, zetsubou, NANI?!). I mean, they made the Lockon x Haro pairing practically canon, goddamit.


No blood? She had Copic markers on her table but her gashapon figurines have NO BLOOD? Oh, fail.


♥


♥ ♥ ♥

I'll have to rewatch the whole thing again just for the (COMPLETELY UNRELATED AUDIO STORY) because I was paying too much attention to all the random series homages in the visuals to listen to the story they were narrating over the radio. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei has been really rocking my socks this season. I think they're getting better at it.

Fujioshi-san reminds me of me so much, it's not even funny. FINE, RUB IT IN, I'M A TYPICAL YAOI FANGIRL (which I have just proven, perhaps, by staying up past midnight to watch anime). SHUT UP. I'M GOING BACK TO WRITE AND DRAW MY BOYPORN NOW, THANKS.

At least she stuck to her guns and wrote what she wanted, instead of writing what was popular. It's a credo that I, as a writer myself, aspire towards. Fuck paying the bills, eh?

Also, Momoiro Kakaricho Itoshiki-sensei needs to rail at at least one student this season and tell them that THEY ARE NOT FIT TO BE TAUGHT BY HIM. And then run off to commit sartorial suicide by dying his hair purple and putting on an unfashionable ladies' cardigan. The End.