insaneneko

I went to the library to pick up two more GH novels (The Masqueraders and Regency Buck, I hope I like them...) and ended up borrowing two movie adaptations of Jane Austen's Persuasion (the 1995 Amanda Root and 2007 Sally Hawkins versions). Oh man. I can take some changes. I can take some differences. But why oh why did they fuck around with the end? The changes in the best scene in the whole book! And the running! And the KISSING IN THE STREET! *gags* I liked both versions okay up to the very end, though I thought the actors were better in the 1995 version (2007's Elizabeth was just...wrong. I liked Amanda Root's Anne better, but Sally Hawkins did grow on me) and 2007 was just so pretty. And 2007 did much better in providing more information and background for those who didn't read the book. But overall I'm just pissed off. THE BOOK IS BETTER. SO MUCH BETTER.

(I know, I know, this is not news. But it must be said! Again and again! SO. MUCH. BETTER.)

Period Piece by Gwen Ravert sounds fun, has anyone read it?

Best headline for a movie review: "'Witch' manages to waste zombie ninja monks" about "Season of the Witch"

Pure awesome: Hirai Ken sings the Uruseiyatsura theme song (while I've never liked the anime/manga, the original OP animation is fun)

Hirai Ken also covers First Love and Automatic by Utada Hikaru

So cute: Harry Potter pup

I actually read some fics! Some I enjoyed:

I somehow missed a new fic in The Paradox Series by

wordstrings: New Days to Throw Your Chains Away. John sorting through Sherlock's lists is pure gold. XDXD She also hosts a holiday meme. I haven't gone through it yet, but I did catch a hilarious and perfect pic.

The dangerous book for boys. by

orange_crushed is very AU and very odd and so cool. Yay for not being able to describe it!

A Priori and White Noise by rubberbutton, vampire as masters/humans as slaves AU, looks to become a series. I dislike humanity enslaved stories, but Moriarty (as well as Sherlock, naturally) is wonderfully odd. I particularly like this scene:

“But I'm sure you'll try,” Sherlock sighs. “John. I'll always come for you; I don't know why you're so upset.”

“It's not enough for you to come,” John says. “You've got to come in time.”

Sherlock opens his mouth to say one thing but his expression goes queer and inward and he doesn't say whatever he had meant to. Instead he looks at John for a very long time and then finally says, “Yes, I always forget how important time is to humans.”

Shadows on the Wall by AraSigyrn features a rather bitter pyschic!John as The Great Game unwinds. Haven't decided wether I think it's good, but it is interesting.

Also came across a great Generation Kill Brad/Nate fic: Life in Abeyance by

vegarin. It simmers, it aches, then it explodes! ♥

Current Mood: GAH

Baccano! characters as cats! So cute!

I found out that the FF7 fanfic Green Dreams by I. Mushi has been rewritten quite a bit and am sad to say I'm not that fond of the changes....But I'll keep reading. Too many WIPs that may never be finished to let go of this one. :P

( more Fujimi )

Current Mood: accomplished

I've been checking out more Japanese Naruto fanfics. I've come across some pretty nice fanart along the way:

Maniac Love: http://mist.in/maniaclove/top.html
Two pairings: Kotetsu x Izumo and Genma x Hayate. I particularly love the art of the first pairing even though I have no clue who they are. XD; The art is a bit sketchy but still very solid. I love the poses and the coloring...

未来航空 (mirai-kouku): http://firstsky.versus.jp/
Absolutely lovely art of mostly Sasuke and Naruto (gen). I am totally in love with this artist. The quality is so high, I wonder if this person is a professional....There are also some adorable Itachi brother pics as well.

I love modern day AUs where the characters are attending school (esp because Naruto's dad is almost always alive and very, very doting--no clue if he's actually like that but it's fun to read). I just read a WIP called "adolescence" at Sione (http://sione.ninpou.jp/index.htm) where Sasuke is a junior high student who is in love with Itachi and acts like a jerk because he doesn't know how to act normally around his brother. Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Sai are his friends who know his problem and mock him about it (well, everyone except Naruto) in that mostly good-natured ribbing way of kids. They sympathize to some extent but they've been exposed to Sasuke's pointless angst for years. They go to an amusement park to let off some steam (they are all studying for high school entrance exams) and while the others are waiting in line for some insane ride Shikamaru and Sasuke wander off to drink coffee...But they see Itachi out with a bunch of HIS friends. Sasuke tries to avoid acknowledging Itachi, but Itachi spots him and chases after him. I had to laugh when Shikamaru basically shoves Sasuke at Itachi, even claiming that Sasuke had mentioned having wanted to come to the amusement park with Itachi, and Sasuke basically sputters and vows revenge internally because he can't figure out a way to get out of hanging out with his brother...I hope the author continues this one. It's labeled as a comedy so I'm hoping it won't get too serious.

I've been enjoying the fluffy Itachi brother non-slash fics I've come across. A lot are as sickeningly sweet as I'd feared, but there are enough good ones to make it worth the effort. The shota slash stuff grosses me out, though. There's this one WIP AU that's serious and totally messed up I'm avidly following as well...

Current Mood: amused

I have been obsessively reading Naruto fanfics (again). After reading a whole lot of badfics I started eyeing doujinshi, but I'm just not as interested in fanmanga than in fanfic...So I took the plunge into Japanese fanfic sites. I got lucky with the first site I went to. It has a fabulously awful badfic that I can't stop reading. Unfortunately it's WIP so I'll be checking that site quite a bit to find out what happens. So bad, yet so addictive! I'll eventually write about it when I'm less excited. I'm now doing the link-hopping to find more good badness. I'll probably be busy for quite a while and won't post much. XD;

The next two sites I ended up at were very pretty fanart sites:

KSL
Mostly silly pictures and one-page manga. I love love love Wedding Bell, Kaeri michi, and the brothers AU (Naruto is Sasuke's adopted--or step--brother. There are fanfics written by others that are adorable as well. I am such as a sucker for brother AUs. XD;).

10-RANKAI
Cuteness abounds! There's also a very interesting Naruto time travels to the past and meets 10-year-old Itachi and 5-year-old Sasuke picfic.

One really annoying thing about reading in Japanese--some of the characters have kanji names!! The main people had katakana names so no problem there, but I was scratching my head with all the others. I also just realized that the beginning parts of Jounin, Chuunin, and Gennin are 上、中、下. XD; And Chidori is 千鳥? All the damn jutsu have kanji names! I'd only read the first volume of the manga in Japanese a long time ago so I hadn't remembered anything. It's amazing how much is stripped away when terms and names are romanized...

Current Mood: crazy

1. Back from vacation! It was awesome and fun, and not too cold. It was a journey of food and drink--consuming it, talking about it, shopping for it.

2. Speaking of food, I recommend The Loving Hut in San Francisco at the corner of Vallejo and Stockton. Tasty and not too expensive Chinese vegan food! Best review ever at yelp:

totally thought this was some Boba Tea/Prostitution ring before I finally checked it out.  Great serving size for the price compared to similar places, I think.

Funny aftertaste, though? This might be because I'm not vegan, but I've been scoping out restaurants to take vegan girl person to, so.

The cakes and ice creams are oh so lovely sweet good right, though. And adorable aprons.  

MOST IMPORTANT PART: SUPREME MASTER TELEVISION. I could watch this damn channel for hours, holy crap, talking elephant.

I do not agree with the funny aftertaste comment, but he is right about Supreme Master Television. It is addictive and awesome. Missed the talking elephant, as well as the desserts. :(

I thought it was a soapland or something, as well. Or that it should be.

3. I want more than one day in San Francisco, even if they are days full of rain and cold. I thought i'd like it and I was right! Wonderful city! Amazing in glorious bright sunniness with temps running in the 70s in November. XD

4. I just bought 8 bottles of wine and don't know how I'm going to fit them all into the refrigerator. I hate that the climate here means all wine should be stored in some kind of climate-controlled environment. Lacking AC, I only have the frig. :( I got two bottles of two Bordeaux's (how does one pluralize "Bordeaux?"), two bottles of a Spanish tempranillo (I love tempranillos), a German Riesling (that I fear may be too sweet for me, but oh well--it's "GREAT WITH TURKEY!"), and a grenache. I don't think I've drunk a grenache before, but the festive label and low price (and wine shop rec) was too much for me not to buy it. XD

5. Pretty fanart of fandoms I know nothing about--Reborn! and Tales of..., among others. Nice coloring and sharp features.

6. A request for sci-fi/fantasy BL via

worldserpent got me thinking about sci-fi BL. First thing that came to mind was two novel series I never read but that seem to have a decent following in English, Sanzen Sekai no Karasu o Koroshi and that one illustrated by Mamiya Oki with the Moon dude with the funky eyes who always wears a visor. Sadly, I am drawing a blank right now and I can't browse my collection since they are still packed up in boxes.

7.

wednesday_10_10 reviews/summarizes a BL novel, called Koushounin wa Utagawanai by Eda Yuuri and illustrated by Nara Chiharu. She posts all the pics! I sort of want to read it now but am afraid I won't like it (I haven't liked everything Eda-sensei has written, and this one sounds like one I could potentially really like or get really annoyed at).

8. Breaking the News by

treeflamingo is a short, sweet, and hilarious gen Ouran fic. "Impending doom" YES.

9. Each raw chapter of Totally Captivated makes me want to magically know Korean just a little more than the previous one. The previous one was pure romance so it wasn't too bad, but this one seemed complex (and amusing at times). *sighs* Also, only six volumes? It's almost over!

10. I am on friends?skip=400. I give up already. I can't catch up. ;_;

ETA: 11. How could I forget the all-important #11?!? Saw the new trailer for Star Trek and was...disturbed. Is this really Star Trek? Now I understand the parodies that have cropped up, such as 90210 or Smallville (I personally like the Smallville one). I'll still go to see it, but I can't help but feel weirded out.

Current Mood: awake

Lovely bunch of Japanese Jack x Rei Yukikaze fanart are posted over at

jack_rei_faf here and here. Also photos of dolls that look like the characters here. I've seen some of the fanart before, but a lot of it is new to me. And so pretty! Some are massively hot, but my favorites are the less explicit ones. XD

I am vastly amused by a Suzaku x Lelouch Code Geass doujinshi being posted at

yaoi_daily. I'm not exactly sure why I clicked on the cuts, but I suppose it's because I read spoilers for the last episode recently. The end appealed to me greatly, though I'll probably never watch the anime. In any case, parts 1 and 2 of 3 have been posted. Very pretty. Seems kinda OOC, but as I know very little of canon it's all eye-candy to me.

Has anyone tried a service that will ship amazon goods cheaply like this one? I keep seeing ads for it (or similar services) when I get an amazon japan rec in gmail (I never pay attention to online ads except the text amazon japan ads in gmail--I think the "アマゾン" at the top of the page just draws my eye). I wonder if they're any good...

Current Mood: amused

I ended up having to scan something because I forgot to make copies of it at work, so I figured I'd scan the manga stuff to finish and actually post the stuff that's been left half undone this entire week...

My friend lent me the recently released limited edition of the last volume (9) of Genshiken by Kio Shikumo. I have to admit, this last volume was a lot more uneven than the last one, and was thus a bit disappointing. What was really fun to read? The doujinshi that came with the limited edition! Filled with entries by apparently well-known artists (I only say "apparently" because I happen to not know them...), it is TO DIE FOR FUNNY. It starts with the CLASSIC two people doing something totally innocent in a room and others overhearing them and completely misunderstanding the situation. Doesn't help that the people doing the overhearing are fangirls rotten to the core...And there's so much more (a fun sasoi-uke one, and a beastiality traumatizing the beast one that...just has to be read). *_* I'd try scanning some in but as it is not mine I don't want to risk doing any damage to it. ^^; I just love the idea of having a DOUJINSHI as the omake for a series about otaku, too. I hope the English version includes it because it is so MADE OF AWESOME.

Also read Silver Diamond 10, which continues to be excellent. Loving the plot development with Kinrei and the prophecy scrolls and the Prince's not-sleeping, but of course the relationship between the four main characters is what makes me happy. Love love love how Rakan thinks really hard at Chigusa's offer but in the end says screw it and just goes for it. He's so cluelessly decisive! It's adorable! And of course Narushige and Tooji and their not sleeping....

I am getting more and more intrigued with and addicted to Abe Miyuki's Hakkenden. Volume 4. Feels like it's going somewhere (just...in a meandering kind of a way). I love that Abe-sensei actually includes interesting and strong women in her stories.

On a completely shallow note, I adore Genpachi's chara design (especially the birthmark on his cheek!). In particular the look he has here is just pure love:

Inukai Genpachi

Got the first volume of Morimoto Shuw's newest series, Asterisk. I know her from the long-running series full of hot gay men who serve and protect, G-Defend, and the shorter, tighter, not-so-gay magical fantasy set in China, Jinju Horetsuden. I adore her art so it was a no-brainer to get this. Well...This is a fantasy about angels. The main characters are Kio and Furawa (is his name supposed to be...."Flower?" ^^;). Kio is a low-ranking angel who goes around getting rid of "Anihisu" (evil things of unknown origin) that prey upon the wishes/thoughts/yearnings of human souls, dead and alive. He is followed around by his childhood friend Furawa, who is, unbeknownst to Kio, actually one of the Seven Angels (which is, according to this world, right below the Archangels in rank). Apparently his big duty is to go around helping out Kio because Kio attracts the big bad nasties and he is completely unable to not help someone who needs it. The first volume really feels like just the beginning of an EPIC. I'm thinking the whole unknown origin of the "Anihisu" thing will come become key.

In any case, right now the big draw is the pretty art and the cute interaction between Kio and Furawa. I'm not sure if they are just going to be very, very close or actually gay, and I really don't care because we gets tons of flashbacks of when they were little (little angels with little wings being caring and cute!). As long as the flashbacks keep coming I'm happy. XD

( completely superficial pics and comments )

***
Also, some xxxHOLIC fanart:

Hironetto has a cute manga here:

Reluctant...

Watanuki: Gyaa! Don't come near me! Don't touch me!
Doumeki: Fine fine
Humph

chisoba-e has a weirdly erotic Watanuki and Doumeki and Watanuki nengajou...

...And back to cleaning...

I was clearing my tabs when I came across a Japanese Ouran fic I had read a while back and had saved. I figured I'd post about it and ended up going around looking for more fanfic and fanart sites. Found a whole bunch which I'm posting in this jumbled up mess of a post. ^^;

First, the fanart:

courante has some cute retarded Tamaki pics. First, I love the eyes on ma (welcome to the world of dreams), the mushrooms on kinoko (jimejimetamaki go!), and the happiness of otousandamon (I'm the daad!!).

iridescence jewel has pics of various characters. My favorites are a really cute Tamaki/Haruhi pic (Tamaki's "This is a French style way of greeting" with a side of "Is that for real?!!") and a cool progression of a Kyouya/Tamaki pic from sketch to coloring to shading to the really cute "dialogue" at the end (Kyouya: Why don't you close your eyes during a kiss at least? Tamaki: K...Kyouya...Should you be doing this on the index page...ahhh...)

spica has some great Kyouya/Tamaki illustrations and manga. My favs:

Ringo no uta (the apple's song)

Tamaki: Do you know? It feels like getting gooseflesh.
Tamaki: And then it gets all hot behind your eyes
Tamaki: And you don't know how to breathe
Tamaki: Yes! And as though there are stars flashing at the back of your eyes, like...
Kyouya: "Exactly like that?"
sfx: ka (flush)

"I'm only looking at you. Come here right now and kiss me." *

(*The line is from Shiina Ringo's song "Koko de kiss shite." I went on a major tangent because I adore this song very very much, found out I don't have this song on my computer or elsewhere (;_;), found the PV on youtube, looked for Japanese lyrics, hated the English translations I came across and did my own quick and direct and not so literal version: ( romaji and translation intermixed )

BTW, the title page is also a line from the song: "everything, your long eyelashes and your delicate and large hands" XD

...I need this song so, so much.)

Wechseltransfusion is a Kyouya/Tamaki vampire AU:

( translation lacking much of the sfx (sorry!) )

Love love love priest Kyouya and vampire Tamaki! XD

And last but not least, a very nicely colored pic of Mori!

桧笠屋 (Higasa-ya) has some cute pics. My favorite is actually a PoT pic called Megane. Love Atobe explaining: He's the megane of Hyoutei! Don't need more than one megane at one school. Aaan? to a data taking Inui and a dumbfounded looking Tezuka. XD I also like the Saiyuki Sa Gojyou birthday one.

And onto the fics (all Japanese and all Kyouya/Tamaki):

Cherry & Cherry has a very languid feel to the writing. Sometimes it works really well, sometimes it feels slow and pointless. It worked in 西瓜 in which there is a really funny shiritori game that really showcases Tamaki's retardnesses, 赤 which made me laugh out loud while marveling at how well the details bring out and amplify the atmosphere of the simple scene, ブラック in which Kyouya complains internally about the crap that is instant coffee among other things, and 夢の境界 in which dreams and reality are mixed up in the best possible manner EVAR.

Boogie Back has this one really great fic, 真夏の夜の夢. Tamaki wins by virtue of being Tamaki. Also, I adore references to him missing his mom, especially done very sweetly and simply.

I've only read one fic at MP so far, but it was very very interesting. 病床パブリック has the very overused kidnapping and assault premise, but its dry tone and very Tamaki-like Tamaki and Kyouya-like Kyouya made it a compelling read for me.

Helpless Flower only has a couple of stories. Unfortunately, the author's endings need some work (they aren't bad, but they just aren't....good...if that makes any sense) but several of the stories were worth reading regardless: Ｘ＞O2 is Kyouya and Tamaki hanging out. I love the moment when during a kiss Kyouya notices Tamaki trembling, ends the kiss and tells Tamaki to breathe. Exasperated at Tamaki's akwardness, he thinks that all he'd have to do to kill Tamaki is to kiss him to death. 浸染願望 has the twins, bored, choosing to play with Tamaki. They trick him into thinking he has to dye his hair "for the club." I love the color it ends up as and his and Kyouya's reactions.

jkm has two stories, one a friendship and one an unrequited love. The friendship one, 休日, is rather adorable. It has Tamaki bumming over Kyouya's house and falling asleep on Kyouya's bed. Kyouya, rather put out, doesn't want to sleep on a guest futon in his own room, so sleeps in the bed as well. He groggily wakes up to a very awake Tamaki who greets him with a cheery "I have no idea why I'm sleeping in the same bed as you, but good morning!" Kyouya, grumpy, decides he isn't going to deal with Tamaki and tries to go back to sleep. Tamaki gently strokes him a, a lullaby of touch, and tells him "good night." (...okay, it was waaay sweeter reading it than summarizing it. *sighs*)

I finally saw the end of Ouran. I liked it but also didn't like it. I enjoyed the serious bits because they were still kind of retarded, but wished there was a bit more crack (it felt unnatural for things to be this serious...). Everyone did look good looking serious (even the twins looked serious a lot! and they looked good being serious!). That chick Tamaki got engaged to? That looking through opera glasses habit HAS to go. So damn irritating. But I really liked her character design. She was very very appealing visually, as was her voice. Of course she was a bit annoying, but not too much. I liked Haruhi on the carriage going after Tamaki...Er...I'd say more but I really need to go to sleep. So...

The short and to the point conclusion: I want more. ;_;

And to celebrate(?) the end of Ouran, more fun Kyouya/Tamaki comics from Takeda Salon. First a really cute one featuring Kyouya and Tamaki's fathers, in Father's Blues:

( Father's Blues translation )

I laughed so hard reading this. I loved the father's arguing that their son was cuter and blaming the other, and in the end commiserating...

And for shorter but still very fun:

11:

He tried wearing contacts to be sexually appealing
sfx: bishaaaa (shock?)
Tamaki: Cheer up! Even without your glasses you're still yourself...Fight on! (I still love you)
Kyouya: I didn't lose them.

Retarded Tamaki go! ^___^

3:

Kyouya: Oh
Kyouya: Tomorrow is the club president meeting...You haven't thought about what needs to be reviewed, have you?
Tamaki: Ah...
Kyouya: We can't be doing something like this now...Gotta think about it
(Kyouya: My glasses)
Tamaki: What!?
Tamaki: Don't worry, I always think about all kinds of things during sex
(Tamaki: Don't!)
Kyouya: In other words, you're never concentrating?

Oh Tamaki...^^; What a dork. And Kyouya! *laughs*

15:

Kyouya: I told you, you're too tense! Breath!
Tamaki: Hii, hii, fuu...*
Kyouya; Why are you doing Lamaze now? You don't have to be loony at a time like this!
sfx: gishi (creak)

*Sound of Lamaze deep breathing technique in Japanese

The sad thing is...I can very easily imagine this scenario. ^o^

One Dress Howl Did Not Buy And Another He Did by

memlu is a delicious little Howl's Moving Castle bookverse ficlet. It's just...so Howl. So Howl and Sophie.

Bloodstone by K. Stonham was recced by

thefourthvine and has started to propagate through my flist. An incredible Hikago vampire AU that totally works, it really helped cheer me up during a rather crappy work day. It makes me want to go through the four boxes of Hikago doujinshi and relive the AU goodness of that fandom. :P

Also, a few days ago I had a brain shut-down moment after randomly reading one the

blind_go entries. It's been a while since a fic was so damn good and so damn cool that I couldn't read any other entry, and my mind was kind of blank for a while.

Takeyama Salon is a Japanese site with some pretty interesting Kyouya/Tamaki manga. The art is distinctive and sketchy. I don't think it's particularly pretty, but it works well with the stories:

A short, cute one: Kill Me/Let Me Kill You

( the translation )

A much more serious and longer one: love letter

( the translation )

The fruits of wandering randomly around LJ: Arcana/1+2=3 by

one_if_by_land, a wonderful twins/Haruhi fic that is mostly about the relationship between the twins.

More random wandering led me to an author,

namistai8, who did a bunch of fics that provided nice peeks into various characters' minds (in the context of a pairing with Haruhi):

Tamaki: Couches in Alleys
Kyoya: Downfall
Twins: Nobody's Perfect

I stopped looking after that because I'm just not interested enough in fanfics to wade through the crap.

Thanks to an uncomfortable situation I was incapable of working for a while, so instead I surfed for fanart:

Bliss (Such pretty pretty fanart... *_* Wow, the Kyoya/Tamaki ones are so so pretty.)
Cradle (Oh, I really like the pretty Kyoya/Tamaki kiss pic)
Fuukatei (Only three pics, but I like the one of Haruhi)
Child Channel (Amusing twins/Haruhi comic)
Logical (I like the Haruhi one-shots)
HanixHani (Lots of funny comics, like this one in which Tamaki has retarded fantasies, and reality tells him his expression is creepy. XD)
mochi+world (The blog has some fun pics)
Shizuku (A mainly twins-centric site, I don't necessarily care for all their pics but I do like a couple: pretty coloring and a simple pic of their backs)
Rakugaki (Supposedly a Kyoya/Tamaki site, but it seems to have everyone represented. Pretty stuff!)
never ever green host0-bu!! (Not too fond of the pics, but I like the Pinky Street stuff, particularly the Tamaki)
poppo (Pretty pics overall, but this one made me laugh)

I like not really having an OTP or an anti-OTP. It lets me look at any picture and admire it for its prettiness. ^^;

It's really annoying me that I'm missing some episodes still. I really do need to fix my bittorent settings because I just can't find direct downloads of some of them. *sighs*

I did a quick read of the manga Emma by Mori Kaoru. Wow...nice art. Story is pretty good, too. Some developments weren't well fleshed out, but overall very enjoyable. And there's just something about a romance between classes that's a joy to read. Emma's attitude kind of reminds me of Jane Eyre. I only wish the copies I got of several of the last chapters weren't in Chinese. I can only guess what's going on in those. :P

Oh, speaking of England, I finally listened to the Flesh & Blood drama cds. OMG I can't help but die laughing every time I think of Kaito's "chant" in Japanese when he did his fortune-telling for Sir Francis Drake. Nothing like being able to say anything you like because no one can understand. And the more I hear Suwabe as Geoffery, the more I adore him. Su~te~ki! And damn, I am liking Fukuyama Jun more and more the more I hear him. He does a really good Kaito. I adore Nigel's reaction to the cat. ^___^ I didn't quite expect Vincent to have such a sneer in his voice, though.

Read several very funny Viewfinder doujinshi, especially the summer themed one and the Dragonball one. The second one in particular...I wish I knew where my manga was, because the whole merging thing just killed me. Super Seme!

And I spent an hour or so going around looking for pretty Togainu no Chi fanart. I particularly like the first two:

Batten Cluster78
INSIDE+sd
Koi wa pusshuhon
Blind
Ahiru Web
4
風月館PLUS (Fuugetsukan PLUS, I think)
Kagen (there's a separate page for Togainu in the illustrations page, link at very bottom)
~ism
Joou no uma (Queen's Horse)
mimiLINE
Usapla

Arg, I am totally experiencing really bad insomnia. I'm wired from anticipation for my upcoming trip and the disgusting amount of work I still have to do before I go. :P I have no idea how I'm going to function tomorrow. *sighs*

I was going through checking out the circles participating in Hashira 2 and came across the most delicious pic on xero-plus's top page. Wow, sexy. (For a contrast, see uber-cute top page!)

Viewfinder chapter 8 features a lovely lovely color page, what seems to be deep yet cute conversation between Tao and Akihito, as well as a mussed up Asami. I like him looking like that. ^__^ The words are too small for my tired eyes to make out, so I'll have to wait for a good scan (or maybe I'll just buy a copy, just for the heck of it :P) to actually read it. But just skimming the pics, it was worth the wait. XD

Thanks to

genkischuldich I've learned of Nekobukuro, a mini cat theme park (or more aptly put, a cat host club) in Ikebukuro. More specifically, it's in TOKYU HANDS. I go there every damn year, and yet I've never known of the existence of the place. >_<

( mirage fanart babble )

Trivia: In coffee shops "cups are usually filled little more than half way because this, for aesthetic reasons, is how green tea is served." (From here)

Paragraph I really got a trip out of: "Ramen really is an entire cuisine, a food group, a cult, a movement, an industry, an art, and the best damn meal for under ten bucks anywhere in Japan. Did I mention, the nectar of the gods? Forgive me as I wax rhapsodic." from an old ramen shop review. LOL.

Weird themed restaurants:
Ninja Akasaka
Vampire Cafe

First off,

thefourthvine made my day by posting her introduction to Smallville. I saw the first season and kind of lost interest...which apparently was the right thing to do because canon went downhill and kept heading south as it went on. Reading her take on it? Too funny for words. Almost tempts me into reading Smallville fic right now but I'm not going to because I actually kind of got sucked into another fandom and it's already pretty hard juggling that and SGA right now.

We watched random extras on the FF7:AC DVD the other night, and it made me really crave some fic. I decided that it'd be a great idea to check out the Japanese fandom. I've read solely in English thus far, but I was sure the Japanese would come through in the long, angtsy fic department. It's been hit and miss so far, but I did find at least one fic I really liked (and it was long!). But reading in Japanese? It's weird.

( reasons why reading FF7 fic in Japanese is odd )

Been having a hard time finding good fic. I've mostly come across the usual fandom stereotypes and archetypes played out in FF7 world so far. But then, I've only gone to about 20 sites or so. I really wish the Japanese were into archives and rec pages, because it's hard slogging through so many sites. I did find (on my first try!) a promising fic that includes not only great character interaction, but plot and action (as in fighting!) and intrigue:

夢の湖 is a long Sephiroth/Cloud WIP set when Cloud is 14. He is assigned to serve Sephiroth. The author has a very interesting take on Cloud and Sephiroth's personalities, and manages to keep them true throughout the story AND have them interact appropriately. Cloud's motivations and mind-set are very solid, and he feels like a "real" character. While she tends a bit too much to tell instead of show, the story moves forward well. Her Zack is wonderful. The mix of clown, joker, soldier and caring friend is absolutely perfect. She also has written quite a number of side stories. I read a couple, and they are pretty fun if a bit too fanon-ish. Her use of OC POV to show a different side of things is well done.

Some random fanart pages I kind of enjoyed passing through in the search for good fanfic:

覇那我竹館抜木 (hanagatakekannuki) has some cute art. I really like this one.

At SAMBITARIA, I basically liked one illustration: this one made me laugh.

I can't help but check LJ at work constantly, even though I can't really download anything with pictures...especially graphic stuff. -_-

In any case, Fenster had a 5th Year Anniversary "Illustration Request without Discrimination" Project, in which the artist took all requests and responded with pictures. She finally finished in January. The first six are Yukikaze, and are all worth taking a look at. My favorites are #1 and #6.

#1 MIB (Men In Black) cosplay @ sunglasses

I love the little exchange the artist comes up with:

"Hey Jack, are those sunglasses Raybans?"
"No, their Nikons"

#02 Rei and Anastasiya

Anastasiya Kovalevskaya is 28, FAF First Lieutenant, pilot of SAF No. 6 Minx, from Moscow. The artist has decided in her mind that her and Rei are the twin beauties of the FAF. *laughs* She speculates that the pretty woman sitting behind Rei in the briefing in OVA 5 might be her or something. I guess she's from the novels...

#03 The two relaxing in Jack's room

Aw....

#04 Rei-san in a China dress

Er....^^;

#05 Rei-san's face during sex

Warning: Graphic! But *_*!

#06 Jack & Rei in biker suits

Jack looks so much like a punk! Rei is more of the I'm too cool for my bike, especially with the pose.

I know this because every other comm and personal journal made it a point to state that fact. ^^; And if I didn't notice all those posts, I got a lovely rose from Xandria--thanks for thinking of me!

Two adorable TezuRyo Valentine fics:

To Declare My Love by

soundczech, in which Ryoma is so Ryoma and it's just cute, and

Present Perfect by

bookshop, in which almost nothing happens and it's just, well, perfect.

I need to go check out my favorite sites to see if they posted anything for the occasion.

And because I'm sick of having so many tabs open, I'm finally dumping some fanart recs, mostly D.Gray-man with several PoT, I think all via

tomomichi:

め組 (megumi)
Pretty D.Gray-man. Check out a couple of my favs: Allen's harlem and indescribably adorable cuteness.

わびさび (wabisabi)
Allen/Kanda, the good kind. In other words, lots of humor. The comics are hilarious. I love a stubborn and sullen Kanda. A slightly more serious but fun one: Squall.

疾風六式 (hayate06)
More cuteness! For example, little Allen, Ravi, sullen Kanda with sword and adorable Allen, gag comic #1 featuring dork Kanda, and gag comic #2 featuring a rather scary Allen.

root 666
A Cross/Allen site with lovely lovely pics. Love love love the composition and coloring of this one.

薔薇王 ~King Rose~ (bara-ou)
A lovely PoT fanart site featuring FujiMizuki and FujiRyo. Mizuki looks good. Love the Fuji as Howl and Mizuki as the witch from Howl, as well as this FujiRyo in kimono one.

猫と缶ジュース (neko to kan juice)
Mostly FujiRyo, but with various other mostly Seigaku/Ryoma pairings. The comics are cute, too. Love this Ryoga+Ryoma+Fuji one. Leave it up to Fuji to be able to enter other people's memories. XD

I had to resist with all my might the urge to go fanart site hunting.

OMG it pays to check out old haunts...HisanaM (+RAVIY999) had the prettiest TezuRyo pic with sword and what looks like camellias. *_* And then I poked through the site some more and died of cute.

( cut for squeeing and translations )

I recently rediscovered a manga I've been borrowing for a while, Koufuku no Ouji (Happy Prince) by Tanaka Suzuki. I think this artist did Menkui. In any case, it's about fairies born from dew who go around attaching themselves to humans who have the smell of someone who's going to find happiness. When that human falls in love and exude an "aura of happiness," the fairy partakes of that aura and moves onto another human. While they are attached to someone, the human can interact with the fairies. When I first read it, I wasn't too impressed, but rereading it I rather like it. it's cute and sweet. It consists of four stories, two of which feature the same fairy-human combination. The stories explore (but not too deeply) the different forms of love, and how people look for it. How they manage to not see what's in front of their noses. How they act out because they don't understand their own feelings. How love can take an unexpected form. All the characters are very likable, and the human featured in two of the stories...I was so happy when he finally managed to find happiness. It was so sweet. ^_^ I am definitely buying this next time I'm in Japan.

Some fics:

PoT: 20 Random Facts About Echizen Ryoma by

captivatedheart was amusing. I didn't know this kind of thing was considered "fiction," but *shrugs* whatever it is it was fun to read.

VF: Hallelujuh by

cruncy_salad is an interesting fic. I like that it explores possibilities (like that one about Feilong actually carving up Takaba) that weren't taken in the manga. I unfortunately had some problems with the fic (the grammar, word choice, etc) but it managed to create an atmosphere of...hollow despair which I thought was cool. Dark fics that aren't really smutty are few and far between.

And a very cute Gravitation fanart site, Praline-web. Though they don't really look like the characters, the colors are so pastel and pretty. The SD pics are cute too, like this monk!Yuki or the Yuki yukidaruma (snowman made of "snow" <--snow is yuki in Japanese, though with different kanji from Yuki's name).

I have this terrible habit of leaving tabs open of various pages I want to talk about or go back to later. I should be doing something else (really, really badly), but I need to clear my tabs (and mind) and so I'll just write about them all now.

Penny Arcade comic titled "As Regards Spoilification" that made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Warning: Spoilers for King Kong AND Passion of the Christ. XD

Some lovely D.Gray-man icons -- I especially like the "my fandom's golden snitch can beat up your fandom's golden snitch," "such a nice boy," "i eat puppies," and "um...hi." XD

afterwards by

idees_fixes is a TezuRyo fic I've already pimped before, but I rediscovered it last night. Nothing good can't be pimped over and over and over again, right?

Speaking of rediscovering things, I found myself at one of my favorite AkiHika fanart sites, 月光雪花. I must beg her to mail order stuff to me...she has four doujinshi I don't own and I WANT. In any case, the pic I squealed over too much: Serious Kaioh Akira and Hikaru (with glasses!). Some other particular favorites of mine: an earlier pic of Kaioh Hikaru with glasses, little boy Akira and Hikaru, and grown up Hikaru with sweater.

Oh, and

petronia did a text translation of the newest Viewfinder chapter. I noticed there's a scanlation out already, but I trust her translation on principle.

Okay, back to the stuff I need to be doing...I hope.

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book >>>>>> movie

monday monday

my naruto obsession continues

my brain is on fire--the joys of fangirling

catching up and failing

eye-candy!

manga to start the year off right!

the fruits of a several hour mad fansite tour

ouran!

fannish things

the ouran post

nothing like searching for fanart

why the HELL am I still awake?

(no subject)

it's may already!!

the wait is agony!

Of course it's Valentine's Day today...

i am a happy fangirl

happy manga

friday! busy! mind in fandom mode!

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December 2015

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