Lately I find myself wanting to write up blog entries, but what's been stopping me is that I feel that blogging (at least through lj) is more of a community thing than it is a personal soap box. ..and while I don't claim to read every single detail of every entry that people on the flist write, I do feel the need to keep up with it and at least quickly browse through it. It's not that I think that everyone who links to each other or comment in each others journals must be chummy friends or anything, but at the same time, there's a basic level of acknowledgment and interaction. I mean why else are these people on the flist if not because the things they're writing/or their online persona are of some interest to me. Even if the people on the flist aren't necessarily people I'd consider friends, I do feel a bit obligated to participate. And the more contact I've had with someone, the more I feel this way - and I think it happens naturally, when you interact with other folks, even if the interaction is limited and somewhat anonymous. Whether or not my perceptions mirrors reality, it's hard not to form an opinion/ideas about what people are like. And like in real life, you want people you like to like you.
It works the same way with RL friendships (except more so). Really, any kind of relationship demands some kind of obligation be it on your time or freedom, etc.

I think part of the reason I lurked for so long without a blog/journal when I first started reading blogs is because once you make your presence known, then you're subject to these kinds of expectations/feelings of obligation. It's perhaps simpler to lurk and try and treat the flist as just a reading list, but I think it's human nature to want to reach out and make a connection or even just to respond to or get a response for something that makes an impact on you.

Like the subject says, this is all probably me stating the obvious but I felt like writing it anyhow. I do enjoy reading through the lj list, and I wish it weren't so difficult to do it at work now (where cubicles have been abolished. Oh no!). Not sure what the future plan is (probably put off indefinitely while I waver about what to do), but I don't really want to pare down the list either. :/ *sigh* Why can't I have 36h/day to everyone else's 24h/day?

The first Gokusen drama is definitely a fun, fun series~ I remember thinking at first that Nakama Yukie was too pretty to be acting YanKumi, but she really fills the role wonderfully and you get over the fact that she's too pretty almost immediately. Major love for Jun-kun as Sawada Shin too. <3 He does wonderfully here. And it's kind of funny how different this role is from his usual tv personality. The role is different from Momo in Kimi wa Petto, but listening/reading folks on the jdorama or d-addicts boards would make you think he's like the best actor ever and he's really been stretched as an actor because his roles are so drastically different. In all honesty, I don't think the roles are all that different. Although Momo acts cutesy, both roles are essentially young teenaged boys who are good people underneath whatever mask they're wearing. I can't really explain it well, but I don't think the roles are so different so as to really strech an actor. Don't get me wrong, I love Jun-kun to bits. XD; And I do think he's a consistently good actor, but I'm not quite convinced that he's an excellent actor just yet.

Uh, ok, reel that inner irritation back in. :P I also adored Kuma. He's just adorable - how can you not like him? He's like this big teddy bear. :P I liked that he showed up in Gokusen 2, even if he's only there as a special "hey look! It's someone from the 1st series!" I'm really glad they had the special for the 1st series because it really wraps things up nicely.

Which brings me to why I actually didn't like Gokusen 2 very much. I think it probably had something to do with watching it immediately after the first series. They are too similar to marathon together. I ended up feeling like the 2nd series was a pale imitation of the first one. Not only are the students similar to the previous ones, the some of the storylines are the same too. :/ Couldn't they have put in a little more time/care and come up with some different stories?

That said, I did like (er, I forget all the characters names XD), the character acted by Koike Teppei - he's adorable! And his storylines were fresh/new and not recycled. BTW, did you all know he's part of WaT ... XD; what an accumulation of jpop eyecandy + Hayami Mokomichi. ^^;;; I also prefered Akanishi Jin's character to Kame's character but neither of them held a candle to MatsuJun's Sawada Shin who I think they were supposed to be replacing. The love interest for Yankumi this time around was also not as interesting as the cop guy from the series before and the new cop guy in the 2nd series is just downright annoying. I do love the way the second series ends though! SPOILER! (although not really much of one)
BTW, can someone teach me how to do the white on white spoiler hiding thing?

( cut )

I had pretty low expectations for Nobuta wo Produce when I first started watching it, partially because of what the premise was (from various sites which gave little summary/blurbs), and partially because two of the 3 main characters are Johnny's Jrs - Kamenashi Kazuya (Kame) and Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi). Neither of which had been terribly impressive in previous drama I'd seen them in. Ok, I admit that I've only seen each of them in one other drama, so maybe I hadn't given them a fair shot. Gokusen 2 for Kame and Stand Up!! for Yamapi (side note: Yamapi's character, KenKen is adorable! <3 )

BUT... I'm really glad I started watching it because it turned out to be just the kind of drama I really like, despite the seemingly shallow premise. Here's the one line non-spoilerish summary of the premise: Popular kid, Shuuji teams up with strange/eccentric/annoying kid Akira to make the dark and picked-on new transfer girl, Nobuko, into the most popular girl in the school. I highly recommend this drama if you like school-type dramas with just a tad more depth and meaning to them than your average school drama.

( spoilery Nobuta talk about the ending )

( Gakuen Alice ep 7 )

And here's a random link that's guaranteed to make your stomach turn. Yum~ Ice cream~ XO~ Well, some of them actually sound like they might be tasty, but some of them...

Incoherence ahoy! - this is what happens when I keep putting off updating the lj and the pile of stuff I want to mention gets larger and larger.

Naisho has released ep3 of Gakuen Alice now. Go Get! I promise the storyline gets better and a bit darker as it progresses. So while it seems all fluff and cuteness (with a side helping of weird) now, the storyline should be picking up soon. So far the anime has kept to the spirit of the show even if there have been a number of differences between the manga and the anime in the later episodes. It worries me a bit how they're going to end it though, since there is a lot of stuff that is as of yet unresolved in the manga, and the a bunch of the loose threads/foreshadowing comes up early in the series, and has also been showing up in the anime.
( real brief babbling about anime eps up to 6 in Gakuen Alice )

uh, not sure if you'll see this here, but questions about Gakuen Alice in one of the previous posts? Not sure if you've already had your questions answered somewhere else, but here's my attempt. Oh an here's another disclaimer - I don't really know japanese, and I can't translate, so there's bound to be mistakes, etc.
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1. Why doesn't Noda sensei ever open his eyes? Who exactly is he anyway?
I think that's just the way he's drawn - kind of like Bunta from Initial D, if you've seen that. He's the teacher in charge of the Special Alices' section/group that Mikan's in. If you're following the raw, they actually introduce him ep 6, which is earlier than they did in the manga. In case you didn't know ^^;; There are 5 different section/groups:
- people who have your typical ESP type alices, things like teleportation, prediction of the future, seeing through walls, etc.
- people who have alices related to creating things, or helpful towards research, etc. For instance people whose drawings or stuffed toys come to life (like the person who made Mr Bear), people who can create food/potions with strange powers/side effects, etc
- people whose alices are related to their physical body, like all the pheromone people (Narumi and Luca) or people who can walk super fast, change the shape of their faces, etc.
- the special alice group - all the leftover people with odd or strange alices which don't fit into the other groups. examples are like Mikan's self protecting/negation thing, people who can make their souls come out of their bodies and afix them to other objects, kage no bunshindoppelgangers, etc.
- people with dangerous alices (like Natsume) - this group is pretty mysterious and is led by Persona

2. What was the 'Aladdin and the Magic Lamp' thing Mikan and co did? This is what the Special Alice group did for the Alice School/Academy's cultural festival. It was a kind of RPG-ish game with different levels covered by different members of the Special Alice group. The person who wins and makes it through the RPG gets to pick a lantern which allows them to get 3 wishes within a week, from the person whose lantern they picked.

3. Why did they choose a male to play female lead and vice versa for the play?
I'm not sure - I think maybe they just thought it would be cute? or very fitting for the play? At first the prince wasn't supposed to be Mikan - it was supposed to be that girl (whose name I've forgotten) who had pheromone powers to attract other girls. :P And I think they wanted Luca in the part of snow white because of the whole animal thing (which BTW, is just adorable)

4. At one point, someone (I think Narumi?) is thinking something about some sort of unknown strength protecting Mikan. 'Itsuka kanojo o mamoru chikara ni naru.' That's correct right? What's he talking about? I think he's talking about her alice right? The one that protects her from other people's alices by negating them.

Sorry for bombarding you with all these questions! #_# I hope you don't mind answering them... - No problem. I'm just slow at answering. Hope you don't mind ^^;

As a random thing, did you notice how amazingly short Natsume's eyebrows are? I never noticed it till my friend (yay, I got one friend into Gakuen Alice!) pointed it out to me. Yamaneko!Natsume is adorable. XD

- yeah, I didn't notice either until you pointed it out. ^^;; I think it's easier to make him look mad/disgruntled most of the time that way... maybe?


( spoilery Gakuen Alice things that I want to know more of! )

I picked up my vol 6 Gakuen Alice manga a few weeks ago so no I finally have no gaps in the storyline! <3 In case anyone's interested in what happens.. that's you anon! (unless you've already had your questions answered)( Gakuen Alice vol 6 not so brief reactions/summary )

So the reason I've been neglecting the manga and anime, is because there's been a sudden influx of fangirly/fannish games over here. I up and bought Tokimeki Girl's side, because it's cheap now ($20-$25) and it finally arrived a few weeks ago, and then the sibling's (Oh so much love!) christmas present just arrived the other day and it's the PS2 version of Meine Liebe. I haven't actually watched more than the first ep of Meine Liebe. And I haven't played the Meine Liebe GBA rom that's been floating around since I wanted to wait and buy the fully voiced version.
( Tokimeki, Meine Liebe v.v. short and incoherent babble )

( rambing about random fannish games which are coming out soon, or already out )

Not sure if either of you will see this here, but worldserpent or kakoten Do either of you know if there's a big difference between the Taiwan and HK versions of Ravages of Time? ... and which versions did you end up picking up?

eikitty - ignore everything else and look here!
( extremely simplified for lazy person's (me) chinese eggplant with black beans and pork dish )

I'm liking the anime better and better. I still don't like the anime character designs, but I knew this series would animate well. <3 I like all the little quirky movements they give Mikan in addition to the fun weirdness that was already there. Luca makes his first appearances in this episode. I don't know how I feel yet about Luca's voice - it's not exactly what I expected, but I'll reserve judgment for later.

( Gakuen Alice ep 2! )

Why is no one watching this? *weep* People watching/reading Gakuen Alice, where are you? ;__; I guess it's another case of series which are popular in Japan not being the same as the ones popular over here. Or it could be because the manga isn't being scanlated (as far as I know... I haven't actually scoured the internet to see if it is) and the anime isn't being fansubbed right now. Although, I have hopes it will be?

ETA: Oh! *__* There's a new Gakuen Alice comm here! alice_gakuen <3

Here's where I babble about the Mars drama (yes, the taiwanese idol drama one. -_-;). The one that's based off the Japanese manga. I just adore the opening sequence. I wish I could clip it out and share it. But the versions I have are not avi files, and I'm not about to go install yet another utility on the computer just to be able to clip it. -_- ( way more babbling than I thought there'd be )

Anyways, I'm confused because it seems like they're almost done with the story at episode 12, but I think there are more episodes of the drama available. As far as I can tell, there are at least another 7 or 8 episodes. So does that mean they go off and continue on from the ending of the manga?

Alright, and the opening and ending songs for Mars are here
For some reason, when I ul stuff that's not in english it gets all fcked up. So, the OP is the one with 1 in the title - it's titled 零 by 柯有倫 which is neat since it's got that whole double meaning thing going on. The ED is the one with the 2 in the title. It's 讓我愛你 by 周渝民 徐熙媛. It's actually a duet sung by the people acting Kira and Rei. I actually like Zaizai's (Rei) voice quite a bit. It's got a bit of a resonant quality to it. He's pretty good at singing. I wonder why he doesn't just stick to that...? Barbie's (Kira) voice is a little thin, especially since it's right up next to Zaizai's, but they sound pretty good together.

Small, somewhat interesting blurb: Apparently the two of them needed a bit of convincing to do this duet together. Because they're good friends in RL, they'd have trouble singing a love song together without bursting out laughing. LOL. Apparently kiss scenes are okay, because you get to close your eyes and it only lasts a few minutes, so you can just sort of hold in the laughter and bear it until it's over. XD;

Anyways, feel free to grab anything else in that directory. I think things are pretty clearly labeled, but if you have questions for some reason, just ask.

Here's an interesting topic, grabbed from here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/worldserpent/90817.html

Like I said in the comment there, my personal opinion is that emoticons aren't meant to map one-on-one to a certain definition/emotion. Rather, they're like facial expressions which have one main meaning most of the time, but can be interpreted differently depending on the person and situation. Anyways, I'd be interested to hear what you all are trying to express with the emoticons you use. (for most common usage, that is)

Here's my list:
( cut for your viewing pleasure )

Hmm. Well, it's been a while since the last post. I haven't had much time for hobbies in a while.

I think the extent of it is:
( random junk )

arisuesei - I got your message, but for some reason I wasn't able to reply? Looks like it's from a cell phone. Were you bored? :P Anyways, yay! I'm glad you're reading Kaguya Hime. How far are you, and what do you think of it so far? Who are your favorite characters, etc. etc. uh, if you've already mentioned in a post somewhere, feel free to stab me with some blunt and rusty utensils. D: I _will_ get through the fl backlog! I will! T____T

Old Smap. Really old Smap. Oh so dorky and cute~

Seigi no mikata wa ateni naranai - if you haven't heard any old SMAP, you should at least download this. They're so damn boppy and retarded. XD;

Kokoro no kagami - more happy, boppy, dippy genki music.

Yozora no mukou - ok, not quite as old, although still old. And they're not quite as psychotically genki as before, but still very cute. ^__^ More of an R&Bish flavor.

Smile senshi oto ranger - here's another winner. XD; Released under the name 青松くん but we know better. *laugh*

Other extraneous stuff:

And hey, otah, found it. So here it be:
Born Again (Ginji's character song) bubbly and cute Morikubo Shoutarou. :P

Hanazagawa Rui's theme from the Hana Yori Dango anime - well this is here to celebrate the fact that I finally finished the manga. Thank God it's finished! The completionist in me wouldn't let me stop collecting it after I'd already bought the first 15 or so volumes. I naively thought it'd finish soon. >_>;

Separate Ways - Faye Wong, cute catchy song. And I've not heard her sing much in japanese.

Cold War - Faye Wong's cover of Tori Amos' Silent all these Years. In cantonese (can it really be called a cover then? what would it be called then?)

They're all here! Happy downloading. :D

So I've been playing Skies of Arcadia. I broke down and bought it since it was cheap all of a sudden. :D ($17.99 at amazon for the GameCube) ( piece 1 )

I’m moving along in Houshin Engi finally. I eventually gave up on trying to keep the characters in the original story straight. I'll save that for another day, when I have more time to map it out as I read. ^^; So, I think I just finished volume 11? Anyways, I just realized that I don't know what any of the characters' names are. ^^; But this fansite was most helpful. Going to have to bookmark that. :D ( piece 2 )

Dan Doh!! - Never in a million years would I have thought that I'd watch an anime about golf. But then again, I did watch one about go... so. ( niko-ball! aka piece 3 )

video game meme gacked from angrybabble
( meme )