Sakura of DOOM

Kawahara Kazune - High School Debut, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)

2008-10-05T23:00:19Z

I've actually read this before, but I forgot to write it up.

Nagashima Haruna's a bit of a tomboy; she dedicated herself to softball all through middle school, and now that she's in high school, she wants to dedicate herself to her other favorite thing, shoujo manga, by falling in love. Unfortinately, she has absolutely no idea how to do it. But she does have a lot of energy and enthusiasm! Eventually, she decides that she needs a coach, like in softball, and she manages to get hot classmate Komiyama Yoh to help her out. She just has to promise him that she won't fall for him.

Everyone knows where this is going, but it's how the manga does it that's the pleasure. Haruna's incredibly likeable; she's nearly immune to insults and generally cheerful and happy. Yoh is grumpy with a soft marshmallow center, and his Tragic Past is being thought of as cold by the people he likes. I just love Haruna and how completely enthusiastic she is, even as she goes from wearing evening clothes for a daytime date to going back to ratty old sweats since she has nothing in between. Even Yoh melts a teeny bit when confronted by her puppy-dog energy.

Fun and happy.

Twelve Kingdoms, ep. 01-05

2008-10-05T06:23:21Z

Er. I really didn't like this.

Nakajima Yoko is a reserved high school student with naturally red hair; she's the class president and generally tries to do things right. One day, a strange man comes into the classroom and tells her to come with him to another world. Monsters attack, and Yoko cries (this will occur frequently). Eventually, Yoko ends up in another world, along with class outcast Sugimoto Yuka and friend Asano Ikuya.

So far, this is playing too much like other "transported to magical world" series for me, and I'm particularly annoyed at Yoko, who basically cries the entire time. I mean, I am actually very ok with heroines who are afraid and don't physically kick ass, but Yoko is passive in a way that makes her feel Too Stupid to Live. I.e. she won't fight, but she immediately trusts everyone. I also want to like Sugimoto and hope that the series is doing something about the chosen one trope; I love that Sugimoto thinks reluctant Yoko should go home and let her have this awesome magical world. Unfortunately, it looks like Sugimoto is being set up as the villain.

People who've seen this, is this going to be like the Miaka/Yui rivalry in Fushigi Yuugi? Because if it is, I am going to throw something. Also, I gathered from comments that people like Yoko, so does she get better?

New ratties!

2008-10-05T06:13:35Z

I have new ratties! One is a berkshire agouti (brownish with a white tummy, looks a lot like Ruki) and one is a hooded agouti (brownish head and stripe on back, white everywhere else).

Unfortunately, I tried to let Ren sniff at them when I was holding him. He was very well-behaved at first, and then he lunged and sank his teeth in my finger. Better my finger than the new rats at least...

Alas, my finger started dripping blood (any recommendations on how to get blood out of carpet?), and then it started to swell up. In a panic, I attempted to locate my new insurance information and find a doctor that was open on the weekend. Let me just say, typing is really hard when one is attempting to not bleed all over the sofa and one cannot move one's right index finger.

Thankfully, I found a nearby urgent care, they amazingly located my insurance info with just my name and the name of the insurance company, and then the doctor ruled out infection, saying that infections just didn't happen that fast. His best guess is that I'm having an allergic reaction. Right now, the swelling has spread so my index finger looks like a giant sausage, and about a fourth of my palm is swollen as well. Also, it freaking HURTS.

The worst bit is, I can only really blame myself for getting between a rat fight and for trying to introduce Ren too soon.

Takeuchi Mick - Her Majesty's Dog, vol. 10 (Eng. trans.)

2008-10-02T18:31:03Z

Whoo! Actual plot development with meaty revelations and emotional angst!

I need to reread to see if Takeuchi has adequately foreshadowed Toui's evilness from the beginning or not; I totally don't remember.

But mostly: Amane angst! AWESOME! I have been waiting for this for so long! More heroines in manga should get angst, but very few of them actually do. And when they do get angst, they tend to smile through it and be cheerful, whereas Amane so far is not.

And oh, I love that Hyoue ends up comforting her and telling her that she should never be sorry for having been born. And there is even more potential for Amane angst in the next volume, as she will have to fight Hyoue/Shinomaru!

I wish Ateko and Aoi hadn't been in this episode. I guess Ateko would have been all right, but having Aoi there added absolutely nothing, and the jokes they were cracking really didn't fit in with the tone of the overall volume. Still, I love that Takeuchi doesn't go with the normal "threaten the heroine's friends" and just has Toui let them off the island because they don't matter that much.

In conclusion: Amane angst and backstory!

Kino's Journey, ep. 01-04

2008-10-02T18:16:30Z

I picked this up thanks to people's recs and from hearing about it from rilina.

As far as I can tell, the series is about a young traveler named Kino, who goes around on the talking motorcycle Hermes. Kino and Hermes go through a world that has fairly modern technology (motorcycles, robots, cars) but still feels a little retro (phonographs, quaint cobble-stoned villages). So far, it reminds me a lot of Mushishi, particularly because Kino's somewhat detached observations coupled with helping people feels a lot like Ginko's attitude. Both of them are rather dry and try not to get emotionally involved, but sometimes they end up in the thick of things anyway.

I particularly like the way important bits of dialog are displayed across the screen as text, but I may be partial to this technique thanks to Neon Genesis Evangelion and other anime series. Hermes tends to ask questions like "Why are you helping them?" or "What did it mean when you stared at each other?"; the motorcycle isn't good at deciphering human complexities. But then again, given the answer, neither is Kino.

So far, there's been a bittersweet episode, a quietly horrifying one, an absurdly funny one, and a flashback one. I like the flashback one the best, of course, but all of them have been engaging in their own way.

Also, much like Mushishi, this is very beautiful and wistful but has little narrative drive. That said, lack of plot is a plus right now, since it means I can watch the episodes little by little without worrying about forgetting important developments.

AKICOLJ: Full-spectrum lighting?

2008-10-02T00:54:44Z

Does anyone use full-spectrum lighting to combat SAD? If so, what do you use and how effective have you found it to be?

I'd particularly love something that I can use as a reading light, something compact, and something that automatically turns on at whatever hour of the morning so I don't have to buy one of those switch plug things that does it.

Picture spam: Chez Panisse, rats

2008-10-01T21:58:23Z

I note that the title refers to Chez Panisse and rats as two separate topics, not rats in Chez Panisse!

rachelmanija and I decided to splurge and go to Chez Panisse while she was visiting me, and while it was expensive, it was also really, really good.

A salad of green beans, cucumber, and chanterelle mushrooms, with a mint jelly. Like everything served, this was delicious. I especially liked the mint jelly, which was only the tiniest bit salty and generally tasted a little cucumber-like, cool and refreshing. Rachel and I guessed that it was supposed to evoke the lamb.

Leg of lamb topped with tapenade, with zucchini flower gratin and a stuffed tomato on the side. I think the tomato was stuffed with breadcrumbs and cheese; Rachel let me have hers, yay. The zucchini was really good and slightly cheesy; Rachel said it was probably the first time she had willingly eaten zucchini. And oh, the lamb. Yum. Later on, we went by the kitchen to see all the trussed-up legs roasting by the fireplace.

I think this was my favorite course, which is saying something! It's peaches roasted in vin santo with burnt honey ice cream. The entire dinner, Rachel and I kept overhearing people talking about the dessert. When it got there, I took a bite and was a little disappointed: it was sweet and rich, but nothing special. And then I swallowed, and this amazing aftertaste kicked in, dark and caramel-like. Rachel and I basically stopped talking during dessert, since we were both too busy savoring the ice cream. And the peaches were wonderful as well.

I love the fancy restaurant thing of giving post-dessert desserts! The triangle is a fruit paste (I forgot what, I think plum), and it was very good. But the chocolate things in powdered sugar were amazing, warm and soft and incredibly chewy.

The last two pictures of Ren were taken by my roommate, who has a much fancier camera than I do. I am hoping to trick her into taking beautiful photographs of my knitting! And alas, these pictures of Bya are the last ones =(.

No coupon inside, just a rat.

More rats in food containers! Well, one rat.

Bya emerges, disappointed that there's not much left in the potato chip bag.

Ren being very flat.

Whiskers!

Poor Ren is balding. Still, he is very soft and fuzzy and squishy.

Two very flat rats.

Bya being very flat. You can see his bumblefoot, sadly.

Ren in blanket!

Bya charging his laser beam eyes.

Bya snuggled up next to Ren. Sadly, this was mostly because the picture was taken when he wasn't very mobile.

More rat snuggling.

Bya sleeping (sigh. Miss my rat).

Cute rat paw!

Ren sleeping on my foot. Rats = excellent foot warmers.

My roommate has a fancier camera than mine!

Ren: "My pea, you cannot take it from me!"

Beckett, Galen - The Magicians and Mrs. Quent

2008-09-30T06:30:13Z

This is a very confusing book. It starts out as a bit of an Austen pastiche: three sisters live together in a house with their mother, who desperately wants to marry them off to rich men, as the house will be entailed when she dies. It'll go to their smarmy cousin, of course. One of the sisters (Ivy) has no delusions about her family, and is beautiful and witty and carries herself well in higher society (she is our heroine, of course), while one is silly and flighty and given to melodramatic piano playing. They meet two bachelors and sparks fly.

But as this goes on in an imaginary version of England called Altania, we also get hints of magick, a mysterious warning given to Ivy by her father, who has been incapacitated by magick.

And then, suddenly, we are in Bronte-land, and instead of being Elizabeth Bennet, Ivy is now Jane Eyre, complete with a huge house, a position as a governess, a possibly evil housekeeper, disobedient children, and Altania's version of the moor. There's even a switch to first-person POV.

And after that, we go back to a non-Austen fantasy in which the fate of the world is at stake!

My favorite portion of the book was the Gothic one, as the atmosphere Beckett invokes there is really creepy. Plus, I feel too many people try to do Austen poorly, and I've read entirely too many romance novels set in Regency England to be much interested in it, no matter how much magic there is. Ivy also pales in comparison to Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre; I never got a good sense of who she was through the book because I was always comparing her to much more interesting heroines.

On the other hand, the grand mystery (as this book seems to be the first in a series) is interesting, and I particularly like the system of luminals and umbrals—the world gets uneven periods of day and night, so the sun could be out for four hours then set, then be out for fourteen the next day. I'm just not going to think about how that works out astronomically, although astronomy does feature in the book. Oh, and there's unrest in the kingdom, a revival of magic, highwaymen, rebels, dark and sinister forces, and balls.

I'm not sure at all if the worldbuilding all holds together—it feels more like pieces of several different books put into one—but so far, it's interesting enough to get me to read the next book.

Sarah Connor Chronicles 2x02-2x04

2008-09-30T05:27:57Z

I didn't write up 2x02 or 2x03 largely because I don't remember them and/or didn't have much to say at the time. The nuclear power plant arc largely baffled me until the end, and some of me wishes they wouldn't come up with such a dramatic way to give Sarah cancer (possibly). I suppose this way, she's less likely to pass it on to John? And the entire John-Riley subplot bored me. Show! Please do not use long blond-haired outcast girls as a means to get the viewer interested in John's school life! Especially when other plots involve, say, saving people from nuclear meltdown or averting the upcoming machine apocalypse.

While I liked the episode with Charley and Michelle, I am very sad they killed her. Partly I am sad because of the Woman in Refrigerator thing, but mostly I am sad because I actually grew to like her a lot in that episode. I also loved the scenes between her and Sarah. I was going to say that some evil part of me would be amused if Charley became Sarah's Man in Refrigerator, and then I remembered that she already has one in Kyle Reese.

And oh, Ellison. Do not be seduced by the dark side! It makes me worry a lot about your life expectancy!

This week's episode: made of win! Cameron character development, insofar as Cameron can develop. I love getting a look at her origin, and now I really want to know more about her reprogramming, if she has in fact been reprogrammed. And she has Allison Young's memories! How in the world did she get those? I mean, they could have been programmed into her, but the emotional reactions don't seem to be something that the terminators can be programmed to have. So...? Is she acting on Allison's emotions? Extrapolating? Can terminators have split personalities?

Plus, this week's one-off blonde girl was at least interesting.

Sadly, Sarah's plot this episode was largely filler, although it may prove to be very relevant to later episodes. And I did like getting the story of John's birth.

Also also, I like that the show has a lot of POC as extras. It'd just be nice if more of them were in the main cast...

Oh! And we get to see more of Ellison's personal life, which is always a plus.

Hatori Bisco - Ouran High School Host Club, vol. 04-10 (Eng. trans.)

2008-09-29T18:19:40Z

I had read volumes 1-3 about a year or so ago and decided not to continue because the paneling was too busy and the manga lost a lot of humor without the sound effect of the anime.

But then, I saw volumes 2-10 at the library and decided to read them just for the heck of it. It also helped that rilina had been telling me that the manga got much better, especially once it got past the territory covered by the anime. So far, it covers most of the anime, with a few unanimated chapters in volumes 8-10.

Thankfully, either I got used to Hatori's paneling, or she got better at it; it no longer confuses the heck out of me, and I'm fairly certain that her layouts have gotten less busy. Some bits are still funnier in the anime—Tamaki's "Mon ami!" in particular—but Hatori's art is pleasant. I also love that she includes sketches of her characters by other mangaka in the extra bits, particularly the one Matsuri Hino did.

Storywise, there's not much difference so far. I am having an easier time telling the twins apart in terms of personality, though I vaguely remember being able to do that in the latter half of the anime as well. I do like that the non-animated bits have more women in them, although usually it's a girl and how the host club heals her or whatnot in some way. On the other hand, volume 10 introduces a non-Haruhi female character who could stick around for a while.

Spoilers

I love Mei! I hope she sticks around for a long time! It's so nice for Haruhi to have someone non-insane to talk to, and I really love how Mei provides another POV on the host club's view of money and wealth. I also love that she looks like a stereotypical character (the kogyaru thing), but she ends up with her own very distinct personality. And while the series is very specifically pandering to and commenting on female moe projected on men, it's still nice to get two girls talking to each other.

I am somewhat divided on the series' treatment of cross-dressing. Despite the use of "tranny," I'm not entirely sure where Misuzu and Ranka fall in the spectrum of gender identification. It seems like Ranka identifies herself as female, although she does seem to call herself "Daddy," and I can't remember enough about Misuzu to be sure. I wish the portrayal of Misuzu weren't so comedic, though I'm glad Ranka's appearance isn't meant to be funny. On the other hand, they're both very comic characters.

Still, I'm glad that the manga doesn't show their gender preferences as messing up Haruhi or Mei, and I especially like that the manga specifically identifies Ranka as bisexual (having it shown in the manga would be nice, but oh well).

In terms of plot development, I'm a little surprised it's taken so long for romance to show up, and I have to say, I like the host club as a unit so much that I'm not particularly looking forward to shipping wars. Still, Hatori does a good job of showing why so many boys are crushing on Haruhi, as opposed to many YA and shoujo series, where people just seem to be randomly bowled over by the heroine. I'm not sure if I totally buy that Hikaru and Haruhi and Tamaki are all unaware of their feelings, but then, Tamaki and Hikaru are so dense at times that it could be. And I will handwave and say Haruhi is deliberately trying to not notice.

I'm rather disturbed by the translation's use of "tranny;" does anyone know if it corresponds to a similarly derogatory Japanese term, or if it's supposed to just be informal?

Still, fun manga, especially now that it's going beyond the territory of the anime. Also, I root for more character development for Kyoya and Mori, my favorite host club guys.

Gankutsuou, ep. 01-06

2008-09-29T05:47:49Z

Gankutsuou is based on Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, although I am fairly certain Dumas' version didn't take place on the moon. Or in the year 5053, for that matter. Plotwise, all I can really say is that the Count has nefarious plans. Thanks to cultural osmosis, I am fairly certain these plans involve revenge of some sort. So far, he has attached himself to Albert de Moncerf.

Other than that, I really have no idea what's going on, save the world in 5053 has a lot of class differences and still uses the guillotine.

That said, the anime is absolutely stunning in terms of production. Instead of using solid blocks of color, people's hair and clothes are composed of patterns or textures. Occasionally, the effect is dizzying, but I found that I was less bothered by it than I thought it would be. Also, this has the side effect of making it very easy for me to tell people apart! No longer are they blonde and blonde and blonde, but instead, blonde with pale streaks, blonde with speckles, blonde with plaid, and etc. I love that even objects like the Count's walking stick are patterned, and some effects, like the Count's stark black cloak revealing a dazzling interior, are just gorgeous.

While the story itself doesn't feel very cracktastic, it still has its moments.

RANDOM CHARACTER: The Count is a mysterious person. People sometimes speculate if he's an alien or a vampire!
ME: I'm not sure if they mean that literally or figuratively.
RILINA: That's why I love anime.
ME: I'll go with figurative... for now.

The Count appears on screen.

RILINA: He has pointy ears!
ME: Maybe he's literally an alien! Wait, wait! He has pointy teeth too! He's an alien vampire!
RILINA: He's blue!
ME: An alien vampire... smurf?
RILINA: I love anime so much!

Since Netflix has not yet come through with the series people have recced, and since I seem to be in the mood for dark and gothic, I will keep watching!

Note: I haven't read The Count of Monte Cristo, so please don't spoil me for it, even though I'm sure every single person in the world knows how it's going to end!

Wright, Bil - When the Black Girl Sings

2008-09-29T05:27:30Z

Lahni Schuler is adopted, and to make things more complicated, she's the black daughter of two white parents who are in a rocky marriage. She's also going to a school in which she's basically the only black girl. But soon, she's nominated to sing in a school competition, and her mother drags her to church in an attempt to comfort the both of them. At church, Lahni finds herself joining the choir, where she meets Actual Black People (tm) and learns to express herself through song.

I liked that Wright isn't covering "typical" black topics here—gangs, slavery, oppression, identity crises, etc. While Lahni definitely does have some identity crises, she's also busy being worried about her divorcing parents, her singing competition, and the weird guy who seems to be stalking her. Wright manages to make Lahni's race a part of the book without making it the entire book.

That said, the book didn't end up working for me, largely because of the ending. Singing for Lahni just feels too easy; she has to struggle for the emotion, yes, but never for the technique. And there's a dose of Christianity that comes in at the end that felt a bit forced; yes, she's going to church, but if the end is about religion, I want some religious struggle or at least a mention of religious beliefs before getting to that point.

Mostly, it's not a bad book, but it's also not a great one either.

Gourmet, ep. 01-07

2008-09-28T04:13:07Z

Gourmet is based on the same manhwa the movie Le Grande Chef was based on, only it's much better than the movie.

Sung Chan and Bong Joo are both the sons of Chef Oh, the owner of Un Ahm Jung, but Sung Chan was actually adopted. As the drama opens, the question of who will inherit Un Ahm Jung arises. Chef Oh is a descendent of the last royal chef of Korea, Un Ahm Jung embodies the traditions of Korean court food, and according to tradition, everyone expects Bong Joo to inherit. But! Chef Oh isn't so sure and decides to throw a contest to determine who will inherit Un Ahm Jung, along with the old chef's knife passed down from the last royal chef.

Because cooking contests are always the best way to resolve inheritance disputes, of course...

Most of the contest episodes are, unsurprisingly, very shounen: it's all about surpassing each other with skills and ingredients. It's also a competition of talent vs. skill, as Min Woo (a handsome but smarmy chef) and Bong Joo have vast amounts of skill, but Sung Chan has lots of raw talent, and, of course, even more heart. I admit, I laughed hysterically at all the tropes, from the heirloom chef's knife to the dramatic sports-movie music during the cooking montages to the completely over-the-top taste reactions. And I love it all! I especially love how the tasters will go into exposition overload when it comes to explaining the strengths and weaknesses of each and every food preparation choice.

Spoilers

I'm glad the show didn't go down the entire contest path, though the one-year skip feels a bit funny. On the other hand, I love seeing Sung Chan as a grocer with his good old truck!

I keep rooting for Bong Joo, just because he's set up as the brother who turns to the dark side of capitalism. Plus, the flashbacks of the two as kids is so cute! I mean, I'm pretty sure Bong Joo won't be the straight out villain like Min Woo is, but he is definitely in the grey areas right now. I should also come up with a list of all the dramas with a rich, polished woman who is the person standing between two brothers/cousins/close friends.

Jin Soo was pretty annoying at first, since I have very little tolerance for the clumsy but endearing drama heroine type, but she's a little better now that she's not completely out of her league as a server.

I, uh, cruelly laughed at the storyline of the knifemaker with cancer and his visit to his son in prison. I blame this on the movie! At least his son was not tragically on death row eating his last meal!

So far, the female characters aren't great (I wish there were actual female chefs, for one), but Sung Chan is immensely likeable and charming, and I'm also curious about the fate of Bong Joo.

Plus, food porn galore! I have been craving Korean food for a good month or so, thanks to watching these episodes.

ETA: rilina has a few screencaps of the food porn!

Azuma Kiyohiko - Azumanga Daioh, vol. 01-04 (Eng. trans.)

2008-09-25T07:19:24Z

This is a complete collection of a lot of four-panel comic strips (yonkoma or 4-koma) on the lives of six girls through all three years of high school. I was a little skeptical at first as to how much character development could happen in four-panel strips, but then, I remembered just how much I loved Calvin and Hobbes and decided to give this a try.

It's slow going at first: lots of gags, lots of breast jokes (very disturbing coming from Yukari, one of the teachers), lots of repetition. But then, gradually, the characters grew more and more familiar. There's ten-year-old genius Chiyo-chan, adorable and rich and happy; solemn Sakaki, who adores cats but always get her hand chomped on by them; sporty Kagura, who is the one I am least clear about; bespectacled Yomi, perpetually annoyed by some of the gang; spacey Osaka, who totally reminds me of Orihime in Bleach; and bouncy Tomo, who makes up in energy and volume what she lacks in common sense and brains. And there are the teachers, Yukari and Nyamo, who seem a little like a grown-up version of the Tomo-Yomi friendship.

Sometimes the humor goes right over my head, or it's too zany, or I roll my eyes at the breast jokes (which thankfully become less common as the series goes on), but I was surprised to find how engrossed I became. Absolutely nothing big goes on, except possibly college entrance exams; even finals and midterms don't take up that much page-time. But the everyday is part of the charm, particularly when the girls start talking about completely stupid or trivial things. It really does remind me of hanging out in the breaks between classes. And while there's the ever-present sports day and the school festival, here it's less a cause for shoujo hijinks and more a part of the school year.

I particularly love that it ends with graduation, unlike Calvin and Hobbes, in which Calvin is perpetually in first grade. It makes the repetition of summer vacation, winter vacation, new semester, school festival, sports day, and etc. more meaningful, and it made me fondly reminisce about my own class trying to win our school's field day or coming up with increasingly inane ideas for the school festival. There's just a rhythm to the school year that Azuma captures.

It's interesting; this didn't impress me that much when I was reading, but it grows in my memory. I think this will end up being a particularly comforting reread.

Morinaga Ai - Your and My Secret, vol. 01-02 (Eng. trans.)

2008-09-24T05:11:59Z

Uehara Akira is a handsome but painfully shy high school student with a crush on the beautiful but crude Momoi Nanako. The girls don't pay attention to Uehara because he's too retiring, and the guys are all terrified of Momoi and her violent ways. But one day, Uehara walks in on one of Momoi's grandfather's wacky experiments, and they end up body switching. Now that their behavior matches social expectations of gender performance, both suddenly get much more popular.

We end up getting a lot of wacky hijinks as Uehara's (male) best friend Senbongi puts the moves on him-as-Momoi and as Momoi's (female) best friend Shiina gets a crush on Momoi-as-Uehara, especially when Momoi and Uehara can't switch back. Though Momoi seems to be perfectly all right with this—she's no longer punished for stepping out of the bounds of femininity and gets to enjoy a lot of male privilege—Uehara is less certain. For me, this echoed how USian society generally tends to be more okay with women acting as men or wanting to be men than with men acting as women or who want to be women; it's "natural" for women to want to climb up the ladder, so to speak, but "unnatural" or wrong or played for laughs if a man wants to take a step down. Morinaga also shows that Uehara is more prone to homophobia when it comes to himself, while Momoi doesn't seem very flustered by Shiina's attraction to her.

Though the gender issues are incredibly interesting, I keep feeling like Morinaga goes more for set pieces or laughs than for After School Nightmare levels of inner examination. Possibly this is because there are a lot of jokes about Uehara getting to see naked girls while changing for gym or looking at himself in the mirror and etc., complete with nosebleeds. The breast jokes in particular felt gratuitous, especially moments when Shiina touches Uehara's breasts. Let's just say I wasn't very surprised to find that the manga is originally published in a shounen magazine.

I'm also curious to see if the manga and the mangaka will end up challenging the gender binary or not; right now, she doesn't seem to be looking much at trans issues. Plus, if Uehara or Momoi were to decide that they were transgendered, it might end up validating the gender binary without a counterexample. Anyway, all this is speculation.

Not sure if I'll keep reading this; the ogling at the female body is rather off-putting, and I think I'd like it better if there was less zaniness and more conversation.

New York 2008 picture spam

2008-09-24T00:59:57Z

My gallery title lies, but I was too lazy to make a new gallery for my very few Sausalito pictures, which are from back when oracne visited in August.

Kara's cupcakes! My sister was staying with a friend in SF and was nice enough to bring some when I picked her up. They are soooo good.

The view of SF from Sausalito. You can see the Bay Bridge (right?), Alcatraz, and sort of make out the Transamerica building.

Ahhhh, palm trees.

More trees! The sky was just so unbelievably blue.

And now, we are actually in my New York pictures! Since my HK subway photos seemed to make some people happy, have more of NY subway usability! As you can see, the little lights show how many stations are coming up, and you can easily see which lines you can transfer too. This works very well until they decide to take a J train and put it on the 1 line, at which point, everyone gets confused.

Mely's giant stacks of books to be blogged! The stack(s) against a wall is to be blogged, whereas the (slightly) smaller stack(s) in the foreground are to be read.

A close-up, because everyone knows you only take pictures of books so people can scrutinize the titles and exclaim over the familiar (or unfamiliar). I am particularly happy about the LJ Smiths in the stack. And Yuki Kaori, of course.

Our two Tiny Laptops communing and possibly attempting to take over the world. MMPB and TPB provided for size comparison.

More subway stuff! This one is particularly neat and eliminates the problem of taking a train from one line and putting it on another—you can just program in all the new stops. I think the downside of this one is that it doesn't show what lines you can transfer to, but on the other hand, the next stop is very handily circled (rectangled) in red.

I really walked through Central Park for the first time this year. I've walked around it and briefly through it, but largely as an exercise in getting from point A to B. This time, astolat showed me her favorite bits. I love the lilies here; they're different colors from the ones I usually see.

Boats! People sailing mini motorized boats! I want!

The Alice in Wonderland sculpture.

Oh, it was so beautiful that day! California-blue skies, giant white fluffy clouds, bright sunshine everywhere, yet with enough breeze to be cool.

More pictures of the sky. (Of course, as soon as I decided to walk nearly 20 blocks down as exercise, the sky got grayer and grayer, the clouds got larger and larger, and the rain began... Needless to say, I didn't have an umbrella.)

People enjoying the lily pond.

Astolat said that the Central Park people unearthed this fairly recently; there are frescoes on the side and gorgeous tiles above.

More of the tiles.

More of the frescoes.

And through the other side, you can look back at the lily pond.

Note how the clouds are much more ominous...

And I went to the Union Square market! Wee Tristar strawberries! I wish I had held a quarter up for comparison; most of them would have been a bit smaller.

I may have gotten a little overzealous when it came to the tomatoes. But they had varieties I do not have in California! Sadly, they were a little watery, but still good. (My sister, upon entering: "Uh. Jie? How are we going to finish it all?")

The line for the halal truck on 53rd and 6th. I did not know about halal trucks before! I feel deprived! I could have been eating them during my other NY trips! The chicken and rice is so good! I am very excited about this!

Little did this giant line of people know that right across 6th Ave. was another halal truck by the same people, only with no line.

An exhibit from the Museum of Sex.

The Museum of Sex poster.

It is cliched, but since I was dragging my camera everywhere, I figured I should take a picture of the lion of the NYPL.

A flock of pigeons that was a monstrous horde before they got scared away by me and my camera.

People! HEADS IN JARS!

A horrible picture of an excellent performance. Lincoln Center had a series of free outside events, of which this was one. This is Step Afrika drumming to kick off a South African dance created by miners in the late 1800s/early 1900s that has many similarities to stepping.

It's hard to take night photos of moving people when far away! Anyway, Step Afrika was awesome. I am predisposed to like loud, percussive, energetic dancing, but I think it was enjoyable for a lot of people.

The Dessert Truck! Very tasty!

This was the chocolate bread pudding, which was OMG AMAZING. It's a little too much to eat, even split between two people, because it's so rich, but ohhhh so good. I especially love the top bits, which have just a hint of crust and then turns into melty pudding underneath.

Goat cheese cheesecake. This doesn't taste like any cheesecake I've had before. It's fresh and tangy, and the sauce is a rosemary caramel, which adds a nearly sharp, smoky flavor. It sounds odd, but it's actually incredibly good.

To continue with my attempting to be cultural this trip, I went and saw one of the performances at the Downtown Dance Festival, sponsored by the Indo-American Arts Council. I am a fan of free outdoor dancing! Big fan! I think there should be a lot more of it in the Bay Area. Anyway, this is the Natya Dance Theatre Company performing "Govindan." The man is playing Krishna/Govinda, and I'm pretty sure the women are playing the cowherdesses.

Again, apologies for the bad pics. This duet ("Abhisaranam," by Manu Kala Mandir) was particularly interesting when compared to the So You Think You Can Dance Bollywood duet. They're very, very, very different in styles and probably in nearly anything, but I did find it interesting that the man and the woman don't dance very differentiated parts (at least that I could tell?), unlike your standard ballet pas de deaux. I can't tell... is this typical of Indian dance? Of a particular style of Indian dance?

An excerpt from "Spirit of the Mountain," by Manijeh Ali, in which she dances to celebrate and honor Afghanistan. She was really gorgeous (also, seeing older dancers always makes me happy), very slow and stately and measured, each line impeccably thought out and danced.

More of Manijeh Ali.

An excerpt from "Pipaashaa" by the Ananya Dance Theatre Company, which blended modern dance and classical Indian. I particularly like the focus of the dance company on women of color.

At the end of "Pipaashaa," which is about environmental destruction and rebirth, the dancers invited members of the audience up. I was too chicken to go up (plus, I was meeting deepad for lunch), but I cheer on community participation!

And a picture of the sky in the financial district.

In addition to the Indian dance troupes and Step Afrika, I also got to see Ologundê, some of Bonga & The Vodou Drums of Haiti, and Doug Elkins' Fraulein Maria, courtesy of Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Again, I am a big fan of free programming! Sadly, I have very little impression of Ologunde and Bonga, as they performed on a very sunny Sunday afternoon, right about when food coma and laziness from heat hit. My sister and I ended up leaving halfway through because we couldn't find shade.

Doug Elkins' Fraulein Maria is an interesting take on The Sound of Music, in which he choreographs modern dance pieces to all the songs from the movie. What I liked best was how Maria was actually played by three dancers—a young woman who looked a bit like Julie Andrews, a young Asian woman, and a young man (POC). The three dancers would be onstage simultaneously, and I imagined it as Maria arguing with herself or consulting with herself. Liesl was played by a man who didn't have a dancer's physique, and the rest of the children and nuns and etc. were played by dancers irrespective of gender. I very much liked the notion of the casting, and it makes a point as to how iconic the movie is—as long as the costuming is right, it doesn't really matter who's playing whom. Unfortunately, the audience would snicker whenever two men danced together romantically, which I found annoying. I wish the Liesl/Franz scene weren't played for laughs, given the cross-dressing and gender-bending (also, Franz was played by a black guy). I noticed the lesbian couples on stage didn't get laughed at.

Other favorite bits from the show were the hip-hopping Mother Superior and watching dancers give signature moves to all the notes of the scale for "Do Re Mi."

And I saw Wicked (my birthday present from my sister!), which was cool and which I need to write up eventually before I forget everything.

Nakamura Yoshiki - Skip Beat, vol. 12-13 (Eng. trans.)

2008-09-23T18:28:43Z

Hrm. I think I may stop keeping up with this series even nominally; shounen tropes just don't seem to work that well with me unless I'm intrinsically interested in the subject. (Yes, it's a shoujo series but the acting power-ups and exaggeration of competition is so shounen.)

Spoilers out-emote each other

I have to admit, Kyoko-in-chicken-suit listening to Ren will never not be funny.

How much older is Ren? I'm sort of glad he recognizes the skeeviness of being attracted to a high-school girl, as opposed to other manga heroes out there *cough*Moon Child*cough*.

Mostly, though, I'm a little bored by the whole jdrama subplot and how each of the actors is getting into their characters or not. Although it does make me want to watch the jdrama they're filming! (On second thought, maybe not, given that it involves a teacher/student romance.) And though I know the whole "Ren can't act romance" is totally a way to get him to act with Kyoko and acknowledge his hidden attraction for her, I'm not sure I entirely buy the premise, or how he expresses it through his acting. Particularly the piano playing bit! I laughed and laughed at that.

I am amused by all the out-thinking everyone is doing, which reminds me of Death Note, only less fraught—"He's thinking I'm going to react this way, so he's acting that way, but I will actually react this way!"

But overall, I'm not amused enough to keep going, sigh. Like I said, I think the shounen tropes don't interest me enough when I'm not into either the subject matter or the characters.

Rushdie, Salman - Haroun and the Sea of Stories

2008-09-22T22:17:29Z

Haroun's father Rashid is known as the Shah of Blah for the stories he tells (I forgot the more flattering nickname), but one day, Haroun's mom leaves them, and Rashid loses his ability to tell stories. As Haroun tries to figure out what happened, he soon finds himself in a magical land where there is a very real threat to the Ocean of Stories.

I keep feeling like I should have loved this, but I didn't. It's very much like classic children's fantasy, with a lot of wordplay and punning and silly yet pragmatic creatures (or pragmatic yet silly), and it reminds me a lot of The Phantom Tollbooth. I also felt I should have loved it because I loved China Mieville's Un Lun Dun. I'm not sure; maybe on a reread, I will love this too.

Part of it may be that I'm missing many of the references Rushdie is riffing off of (though I caught the Mudra one!), and part of it may be my wanting more girls. It's hard to say.

Anyway, still recommended if you liked Un Lun Dun, and maybe I will reread some time.

Lee, Jennifer 8. - The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food

2008-09-22T07:27:09Z

Lee begins the book by telling the story of an unprecedented number of winners for a lottery, all of whom had gotten their winning numbers off of fortune cookies. She goes on to examine Chinese food, although despite what the title says, it's more American Chinese food, with occasional forays into other diasporan Chinese foods. Hopefully no one here is surprised to learn that American Chinese food classics such as fortunes cookies, chop suey, and General Tso's chicken aren't very Chinese at all, in that they were born in the USA. On the other hand, Lee argues that you can't define them as un-Chinese. (Although fortune cookies were actually invented by some Japanese Americans, which I hadn't known.)

Since I am a snob, I still refuse to think of most Chinese food in the US as actual Chinese food, despite Lee's arguments. And she does note that Chinese food in the US is sweeter, saltier, and deep fried more often than Chinese food from Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, along with noting that it's somewhat sanitized for USian taste—no bones, no gristle, no dark meat, no strange body parts.

I have to admit, the breezy tone ended up being off-putting for me, along with the lack of depth, although the book may be more interesting to someone who doesn't know about the differences between American Chinese food and Chinese/Hong Kong-ese/Taiwanese Chinese food (Lee distinguishes between food from China/HK/Taiwan and food from anywhere else). I also had a hard time reading some of the history because the breezy tone often goes along with history, and that history mostly consists of Japanese internment (or why Chinese Americans ended up marketing the fortune cookie instead of its Japanese-American inventors), the Chinese Exclusion Act, illegal immigration, and other fun things. On the other hand, I did not know that Chinese delivery men are frequently robbed, beaten, and/or killed on the job, so I did learn that.

Lee seems to be more apolitical than anything, though of course "apolitical" is still a political choice. Still, because of that, I wanted a different kind of examination of Chinese food in the US, one that doesn't necessarily conclude that the changes it went through were good, but I also have a great deal of vested interest, thanks to being made fun of for what I eat.

Rec me anime!

2008-09-22T01:56:41Z

Currently I have no kdramas except Gourmet on my list, and I'm caught up with most of the shows I want to watch. Also, I'm in the mood for short episodes. So, rec me anime (but please read the qualifications first)!

Available on Netflix

Not too bloody

Have cool women. I don't mind if they aren't the protagonists or if they don't physically kick ass, but I also don't want a series in which all the women or girls feel like objects.

Not depressing

Have an ending

Bonus points for something funny with depth (ex. Samurai Champloo) or something that hits my gothic shoujo id buttons (ex. Vampire Knight)

I prefer series, though I may watch movies/OVAs too.

I've seen and liked:
Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam Wing, Gunslinger Girls, Haibane Renmei, Honey and Clover, Kare Kano (incomplete), Mushishi (incomplete), Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ouran High School Host Club, Princess Tutu, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Samurai Champloo, Vampire Knight, X, Yami no Matsuei, and nearly all the Studio Ghibli movies. And though it's not anime, I've seen Avatar too.

I've seen and disliked:
Akira, Gasaraki, Ghost in the Shell, Lain, Perfect Blue, Tenchi Muyo

Lee Joung-A - Chronicles of the Grim Peddler, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)

2008-09-21T19:10:05Z

I actually bought this in Taiwan and read half of it, but I finished it here in English. (Taiwan flips manhwa! I feel cheated.)

I bought this purely on the basis of the cover and the face that it was about fairy tales. The cover doesn't lie: the art inside is just as gorgeous, if not moreso, with beautiful Art Nouveau lines and lots of stylization. Sadly, you can't seem to preview the art or see more of the interior at the official website.

I think the premise is that the Grim Peddler (nameless) sparks fairy tales into being or narrates them or somehow controls the flow of the story, and he does this by providing seeds that grow into people. Sleeping Beauty is one of these seeds, given to a desperate queen who wants a child. He lives with a young black-haired man who is occasionally a cat (also nameless), and said man/cat tends to get shoved into stories by the Peddler to make things go as they should. Unsurprisingly, each of the retold fairy tales is very different from the ones we're used to. The ones in this volume include Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, the Little Mermaid, and an original fairy tale, which is sadly the most incomprehensible.

I don't think the manhwaga is doing anything particularly revisionist with any of the retellings, but I was rather amused by the twist on Hansel and Gretel. Also, did I mention the art was gorgeous? I'm guessing the rest of the series will be just as incomprehensible, but I may end up getting it anyway just for the pretty.

Monette, Sarah - The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchinson Booth

2008-09-21T19:00:41Z

Kyle Murchinson Booth is the insomniac, horrifically shy, socially awkward archivist at the Samuel Mather Parrington Museum. Thanks to a semi-unwilling foray into the supernatural (detailed in the first short story), he now seems to attract all sorts of ghosts and curses. The Bone Key is a set of short stories about Booth and the things that happen to him; all were published first elsewhere save the final story.

Monette writes in the introduction that she was inspired by M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft, both writers I haven't read, one because I haven't heard of him and the other because I avoid horror like the plague. I'm still not sure why I started this book, given my loathing of horror—I am really easily scared, as in, The Sixth Sense scared me—but I'm glad I did, despite several cases of the chills. Also, I think my long-held phobia of mirrors is back again.

Mostly I love the style of the book, and I'm glad I can read something like it without having to actually dip my toes into Lovecraft. I feel for Booth in particular, whom I think is the adolescent in all of us, and as such, "Elegy for a Demon Lover" ended up being my favorite story for the last line. Although I enjoyed getting more Booth backstory, I ended up being the most intrigued by the longer case files; the Booth-centric stories felt like they didn't have enough meat for me to sink my teeth into. As such, the two I enjoyed the most outside of "Elegy" were "The Venebretti Necklace" (which I also liked for the main female character) and "The Wall of Clouds."

In conclusion: a good read with beautiful style, and amazingly not as scary as I had dreaded (this is a plus).

Links:
- desdenova's review
- buymeaclue's review

Bya

2008-09-20T23:52:18Z

I took Bya to the vet today, and both of us agreed that euthanasia would be the best option. He deteriorated pretty rapidly over the past week or so, and though I'm still grieving, I'm glad to at least have closure—the past week has been emotionally exhausting.

Bya was my fat, white Mokona rat and the alpha rat of the cage; any time Ruki or Ren tried to do anything, he could just sit on them to make them behave. As his size (large) and shape (round) showed, he was lazy and loved to eat, to the point that when the cage door sprung open on a number of occasions, he wouldn't even bother venturing out. He especially loved licking people and giving them rattie kisses and was very loved and pampered.

Shimizu Reiko - Moon Child, vol. 01-07 (Eng. trans.)

2008-09-18T04:13:28Z

I realized I should have written this up while rachelmanija was still here so I could pull direct quotes from the manga!

So. The planet Earth is the spawning ground for mermaids, who swim through space for light-years and only have a short span of time on Earth to birth their eggs, after which they turn into sea foam. Unfortunately, Seira, the Little Mermaid, screwed things up big time for the mermaids by falling for a human instead of the merman, and now there's a prophecy that her child Benjamin (female) must mate with merman Shonach to prevent Earth from being destroyed by ecological catastrophes.

Alas, Benjamin is still immature, meaning that she's currently walking around Earth as a twelve-year-old boy named Jimmy. Jimmy also has amnesia, thanks to a car accident, and the man who was driving the car, Art Gile, has currently taken Jimmy under his wing.

I am not even getting to most of the plot and how the mermaids are asexual and only the strongest mermaid gets to become a female and birth eggs and the dark side of the moon being inhabited by fish and lace flowers and the creepy twins Seth and Teruto and and and...

If you couldn't tell, the plotting is cracktastic and yet, strangely compelling. This is unfortunate because everyone is basically going after twelve-year-old Jimmy and mate with him! I am actually less creeped out by this than I am by Jimmy's relationship with Art. At least the other mermaids are operating with the knowledge of mermaid biology, whereas Art the human is just skeevy for being attracted to his twelve-year-old foster kid.

Also, he hits Jimmy! I suspect the mangaka was trying to go for a Sanzo-Goku vibe, but it does not work when one of the people in question is a young child!

The manga also has an incredibly offensive portrayal of a black woman, poor taste in using real-life tragedies, gorgeously surreal art, completely messed up gender politics, and fascinating world-building. I am not sure what to think.

Iwanaga Ryotaro - Pumpkin Scissors, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)

2008-09-18T03:58:14Z

The Empire and the Republic of Frost have been waging war for a long time, but the series actually begins when the two nations agree to a cease-fire. As a caption says, "There is no war, yet peace has not graced the land... This is the story about the stage in between..." Second Lieutenant Alice Malvin is the commanding field officer of Imperial Army State Section III, also known as Pumpkin Scissors (yeah, I have no idea either). Her unit is dedicated to peace building, though it's difficult given how much looting, corruption, and general lawlessness there is following the war. And then, they come across a mysterious, scarred stranger named Randel Oland, who is a veteran of the war, but not a particularly happy one.

I can see now why people compare this to Fullmetal Alchemist, although the first few pages looked like they were straight out of Gundam Wing. I love the premise of the series, especially since most series tend to focus on the war and winning the war, as opposed to the process of rebuilding, which I think is much more complex and interesting. So far, I'm not quite sure just how political this series will get, since it does feel like the focus will be on Randel's mysterious past, old war crimes, and conspiracies. On the other hand, even if it doesn't get into politicking, it'll still be interesting going around with the cast seeing the effects of the war.

I'm a bit leery of the class issues, particularly in the chapter focusing on Alice and her status as an aristocrat, which is largely on her guilty feelings and on her role being justified by other people, as opposed to actually concentrating on the lower class.

Still, this is a promising beginning, and I'll be looking for more.