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I just wanted to apologize to the one who I sometimes refer to as "Nikki", but who is known to herself and others as "Miaka". I was a cruel bitch to you, and there's really no call for that. I'm sorry for posting our AIM conversations in my journal. No matter what I was feeling or how upset I was...there is no call for that sort of ugly behavior.

My apologies.

Actually, it turns out...we're BOTH crazy.

Visit Spazmodia!

I need more residents. NEED MORE RESIDENTS.

I'm writing a most tragic love story inside my brain. It's about two people who boasted that their love was the strongest and truest love ever. This angered the goddess of love -- who, contrary to popular belief is neither beautiful, nor compassionate. No. Instead, she is cruel, and whimsical, and hideous. She promises the couple immortality to share their love, if only they agree to pass her test.

The goddess locks the woman in chains at the bottom of the ocean. And every full moon, the woman wakes up there, only to drown again. She can release herself from bondage by giving up on her lover, cursing his name with the single breath of air locked in her lungs...but, then she will never see him again. The man is tasked with a Homerian type quest...to travel the world by boat and retrieve seven items for the goddess, all the while knowing that the longer he takes, the more times his beloved will die at the bottom of the sea. He never knows if she's betrayed him, or if she's suffering on his behalf. He can end it by wounding himself with a knife the goddess gave him...and letting his blood leak into the sea where his beloved is bound. But, if he does so, of course, he will never see her again.

The story is mostly about the man, of course, and his quest to get the items. In the first part, they go to the island of the Lotus Eaters (very Homerian, like I said).

Anyway, I'm only writing it in my head right now. No time for actual writing until the fall rush dies down. Ah, how I love epics, and fairy tales, and angst, and dark humor, and bloodshed. Eee.

The easiest way to describe Claymore in fifteen words or less: Blonde chicks with giant swords fight demons and each other. Massive angst ensues.

It might sound like a completely boring concept, but I have to admit that I'm completely riveted by Claymore. I watched the first 19 episodes in the span of two days. I don't think another anime has made me exclaim the phrase "JESUS FUCK!" out loud so many times. At least, not in a long time.

In a way, Claymore reminds me a little of Berserk. Except twenty times better. Yeah. Cross Berserk and Naruto, replace all of the characters with elfin-looking blonde chicks, and you have Claymore.

In the world of Claymore demons (called Yoma) exist. Regular mortals can't fight them head-on, so a class of half-Yoma female warriors have been created. These women are part of "the organization", which is called "Claymore" by humans. Okay, so that part is all regular and anime-like. But, the stories of the main characters...are just epic. This seriously has to be the most fucked up anime I've seen...in forever. And it's just made all the more better by the bizarre personalities the various Claymores have developed.

Anyway, I dare you to watch the first eight episodes and not become a fan of the show.

Warning: Not for people who are averse to depictions of bloodshed, decapitation, maiming, or rape.

Abort? Retry? Fail? Continue? Definitely continue. Wikipedia says this series is only 26 episodes, but I hope it gets another season, eventually.

I've been re-watching Last Exile on the AZN channel. I still think it has to be one of the most underrated, underappreciated anime ever made. It's such a wonderfully nuanced story, and a completely fascinating world. In fact, the "world" of Last Exile is so solid, it reminds me almost of the worlds of Bladerunner or Dune. A setting so foreign, but so powerfully and completely realized that you have no problem buying into it.

It makes me want to go back and finish Pinwheel Libertines. The Guild is oh-so-fascinating.

Note to mihakken: New "No Reservations" starting July 30th. Put it on your calendar!!

In this month's issue of mental_floss, there is a brief article about an area in Poland that came up with an extremely clever ruse to bypass German occupation and save its Jewish population:

They faked a typhus epidemic.

Using another, far less deadly bacteria that had symptoms like typhus, some of the non-Jewish townspeople made themselves sick. So, when the Germans inspected (and with a little alcohol and partying shoved into the German doctor), they were given an extremely UNCLEAN bill of health. An entire set of villages were quarantined off for the entirety of the war. Nobody was shipped off to camps. There was not a wholesale extermination of Jews.

I just found that to be...clever. And interesting.

I'm sick. Fucking lovely. Lovely Christmas present. Especially lovely since I will be working alone all week. God fucking damnit. Why won't this ever fully go away? I'm going to be PISSED OFF if I have to go back to the hospital.

So, anyway. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, etc, etc. Sorry if I am less than jolly. Grumpiness comes from the feeling of being stabbed in the head and lungs with ICK.

What an utter piece of crap this new "update" crap is. AN UTTER FUCKING PIECE OF CRAP. It would not let me edit an entry I had posted, and in the end I had to delete the entire entry. Fucking hell wtf. Hate.

I really hate that shit.

Wrongness rating of this scene I'm writing: 9.9 out of 10.