insaneneko

I was in a Japanese grocery store and was caught up by the music they were playing. Really old j-pop, apparently all from anime. One of the ones they were playing was My Will by Dream, the first Inuyasha ending song. I did a search by the lyrics of the chorus and “anime ending” and hit the jackpot. Man, what a nice song! I gotta remember it next time I go to karaoke.

Aaah, I love FF7 WIPs to get sucked into: Off the Line by seam is an AU in which Cloud the trooper is given a VR machine to help with insomnia and starts playing the popular MMORG Terra Online. He ends up making a splash. Hard to explain, but it’s 38 chapters and going strong, and I really want to know what happens soon.

Speaking of FF7 WIPs…Green Dreams by I-Mushi is being updated! It got updated I think once last year, and another chapter just went up the other day!

Current Mood: awake
Crossposts: http://insaneneko.livejournal.com/510875.html

Kotatsu train: While not having a backrest is annoying, I'd love to ride this once.

The Fifth Act drabble in which chibi!Cloud gets Cloud and their mother together: Can you say aww?

I've been torturing myself by reading tons of WIP FF7 time travel fics, some of which are currently being updated and some which…might be abandoned. Sadly, my favorite of the bunch has probably been abandoned but I keep regularly checking my bookmarks to see if the others have been updated. I keep getting the stories confused because I read a bunch of them in a very short period of time and still have to read the first chapter or two to reacquaint myself with the fic before jumping into the latest chapter. It feels like it's the fate of 90% of time travel FF7 fics to be abandoned, and it's almost always the good ones that do. I hope the others get finished. *sighs*

I actually watched the 2012 Kouhaku (It's so long! It's been a couple of years since I last watched Kouhaku and I'd forgotten just how long...) and was amazed at the number of completely forgettable girl groups in the thing. I did find a couple of songs I've become attached to, tho.

One female idol I've grown to like is Kana Nishino (who can actually sing). She sang Go For It!!, a very happy, very bouncy song with an amazingly 80's vibe to the video. I've also grown attached to the interestingly-named Momoiro Clover Z's interestingly-named song Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimiyo.

Current Mood: awake
Crossposts: http://insaneneko.livejournal.com/501784.html

I went on a many-hour search for decent AMVs. There are so many bad ones, so many ones with songs I can't stand, and so many with really odd editing. *sighs*

Finale, Rebuild of Evangelion. Great (mostly instrumental) song with such an amazing beat (bought it: Finale by Madeon), some very nice edits. Makes me want the next movie already. :P

I then went on a FF7 AMV watching binge, seeing lots of meh ones set to meh songs. Some I liked:

This is War, FF7 Advent Children & Crisis Core. I freaking love this song, and the edits are pretty good. The way this vid begins and ends is awesome, and the way "Omnislash version 6" (it took me forever to figure out what the hell the move was) is incorporated is very nice. The quality of the video sucks, though.

Dance with the Devil shows mostly the same fight scenes but in much better quality, set to decent music. Not a big fan of the edits, though.

I didn't like the actual video, but I like the song: Remember the Name. It's by Fort Minor. The chorus really resonates:

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name

Memories, done to the song by Within Temptation. Love the song, and it was nice seeing good quality non-fighting footage. It seemed really slashy, though. ^^;

Headstrong, song by Trapt. Nice use of the Bahamut fight scene.

If Today Was Your Last Day, (meh) song by Nickelback. Lots of decent quality footage from Crisis Core. I like Zack with short hair.

Current Mood: amused
Crossposts: http://insaneneko.livejournal.com/499384.html

I had a wonderful time last night reading a completed long time-travel FFVII fic! It's called The Fifth Act by Sinnatious. Cloud goes back in time to the time of the Wutai War and tries to prevent the badness that he knows will happen. I know virtually nothing about Genesis, but he features big in this, along with Sephiroth, Angeal, Zack, etc. Not slash, but lots of friendship goodness. I really enjoyed this. There are also extra drabbles and the like collected here, including stories with some slashiness thrown in.

It makes me wish my favorite long time-travel FFVII fics had been completed. Or I could find new ones. *wants more*

Crossposts: http://insaneneko.livejournal.com/498021.html

I have been addicted to the song Zero by Bump of Chicken, the theme song for Final Fantasy Type Zero. The video on the DVD that comes with the limited edition of the single is quite depressing yet cool, check it out here. ( spoilers for the game )

Finally! More Generation Kill/A Companion to Wolves: You Just Brace and You Breathe by dira. The series is collected here.

The Art of Flat-Sharing by

out_there is an adorable Sherlock POV fic about being roommates with John. The little observations, how Sherlock decides to do the little things he thinks are pointless just to placate John, all of it.

Let You Kiss Me (So Sweet and So Soft) by

out_there is another adorable one, this time from John POV. Sherlock starts randomly kissing John. John tries to figure out why.

Incantations and Deductions by

hbomb90 is a HP crossover in which John, a Griffindor, and Sherlock, a Slytherin, become improbable friends. It's incorporating plot lines from the show, but it's WIP so I have no idea where it's going to.

The Important Bit by Solshine, Sherlock, bits from a platonic marriage of 30 years. A bit sappy, but mostly sweet.

Making the Connection by JessamyGriffith, John is working as a phone sex operator and gets a detoxing (and bored) Sherlock. They "make a connection." It's WIP and it's...uneven. There are bits of conversation that are fun to read, but then it gets weighed down with angst/melodrama/whatever and flies off a bit too much. I'm hoping it gets a bit more grounded more consistently because I would like to know where this ends up.

The Happy Announcement by knittingkninja, Sherlock, Sherlock/John. I think an excerpt explains it all: " In six months, apparently he and John were getting married. Odd that he wasn't consulted about this. It was generally something that people agreed to do in this culture." Mycroft being helpful, naturally. XD; WIP.

If At First by kellifer_fic, Marvel movies, Tony/Steve College AU, Tony was mean to Steve in high school when Steve was a scrawny geeky thing, but he notices Steve once he's grown out quite nicely. A pulling pigtails kind of story. Cute, and Tony's POV is fun, but slightly lacking. Steve needs to push back a bit more.

Expectations by shinysylver, Marvel movies, Tony and Steve in Vegas. Tony tries to act in a certain way that Steve doesn't want anything to do with. Short and cute.

Still LIfe with Potstickers and Welding Torch: Or, Tony Stark at Rest by melannen, Marvel movies, Tony/Steve-ish, there is art, and it is cute.

Knitwear by tsukinofaerii, Marvel comics, Tony/Steve, short, sweet, absolutely adorable crack.

Babe, I'm Gonna Be Your Man by cherryvanilla, Marvel movies, Tony/Steve, strippers lead to jealousy lead to...

These three Things Remain by Siria, Marvel movies, Tony/Steve, Steve gets used to the 21st century and Tony. Not in that order.

Paint the Ocean Blue, and Marigold too. by godofwine, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, marine biology AU. It's rather lovely, and I love the guys made into scientists stuck on a boat looking for whales and other stuff.

Current Mood: awake

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

Yay! A fairly new chapter of the FF7 fic "Green Dreams"!

It Takes a Village by

chaletian, new Star Trek, vignettes about life about a starship for a new CMO.

Everyday I Miss You has written yet another amusing Naruto fic called "Blacklist" (http://rabilunar.blog46.fc2.com/blog-entry-449.html). It takes the bastard Naruto from the long badfic she just isn't updating (;_;) and sticks him into a silly story. It is Sakura POV, she is horrified when she finds out how Naruto subdued Sasuke enough for treatment after bringing him back to Konoha with all limbs broken. When the casts are taken off Sasuke tries to go after Naruto for taking advantage of the fact that he couldn't move to fuck him repeatedly...

Current Mood: crazy

I adore going back in time and redoing things fic. I love how the character who goes back stresses over hiding too much knowledge/skill and wondering how/if he should change anything in the past. FFVII has a lot of them. I don't kmnow how I missed Green Dreams by I.Mushi, but I'm so glad I found it now. I like how in this one Cloud teams up with Reno. It seems to be an ongoing WIP, too. I hope she updates soon because I want to know what happens!

Current Mood: happy

1. Holy crap does Hinakick Web have lovely lovely fanart. Mostly Tom Riddle/Harry (Tom looks so gorgeous, especially with his red eyes), but also many fandoms (mostly unfamiliar). The ones I do recognize are FF7 and FF12 (there's a particularly lovely pic of that kid...Larsa? against a wall). There are some lovely yuri pics with women dressed up very elaborately (and/or partially naked).

2. Tantalize by

kishmet, AtoRyo, AU, over-the-top sizzling sexual temptation and frustration.

3. Overheard in the elevator today:

Woman: I'm tired
Man: Why?
Woman: I'm pregnant
Man: (snickers) ...Seriously?
Woman: Yeah
Man: (pauses) Wow, that's the best excuse I've heard today.

Way to go with the understatement, dude.

4. Anyone have good covers to share? I've been obsessed with them this past weekend and would love some more. Some I shared before:

Closer by Maroon 5
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Tori Amos
Ray of Light by Natasha Beddington
Wonderwall by Ryan Adams

Download here

Current Mood: awake

Food rec: If ever in Nagoya, check out Tenmusu. If on Oahu now, they are available until the 27th at the Ala Moana Shirokiya. They are small onigiri with tempura and they are awesome. ♥

I'm happy to have something else to eat next time in Nagoya, on top of kishimen, akafuku, hatcho miso, and that famous tonkatsu place near (under?) some train station that supposedly kicks lots of ass.

Speaking of onigiri, I have to recommend a fabulously easy way of making onigiri I learned (and put to good use) this week. Instead of just plunking rice into a rice bowl, wetting and throwing salt on your hands, and attempting to not get burned handling the rice directly, put saran wrap into a rice bowl and put the rice in it. Scatter some salt before and after putting the rice in, then stick the ume or whatever in the middle (pushing it down into the rice). Then gather the wrap together and twist the top, squeezing the rice together without having to actually touch it. Then, use your hands to shape and squeeze some more. The rice doesn't feel so hot through the wrap and the grains don't stick! And being able to squeeze it all together with the wrap makes it less likely that the entire onigiri will fall apart because you didn't squeeze enough.

I took onigiri for lunch three times this week, each day wrapped with damp nori. I used to hate damp nori as a child, preferring to take the onigiri and the nori along separately and putting them together just before I ate it, but now I adore the texture and flavor of damp nori. XD This also prevents the rice grains from sticking to the container you put them in. Mostly I had ume inside (I love love love ume in general and the ume we currently have in particular), but I did do the shoyu-soaked katsuobushi (I think it's called bonito flakes?) thing once. I think it was a bit too dry (and thus too flaky), but I wanted to avoid using too much shoyu. :P I took carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, steamed broccoli, or cucumber with miso to gnaw on, as well as chicken quickly sauteed in butter with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and tons of garlic powder. Yum!

Hilarious: Let's Make Final Fantasy VII Into a Footnote (Dirge of Cerberus). I've only read the first two sections but laughed all the way through them both.

Current Mood: listless

Finally saw Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children this past weekend. I was a bit annoyed at the official DVD release because they mistranslated a bunch of stuff (we were watching in Japanese with English subtitles) for no apparent reason. The story was confusing and the fights kind of fast and dizzying. I want to watch it again.

( random thoughts on the characters )

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.

Woot! While I wasn't checking, Chapter 15 of the FFVII Sephiroth/Cloud fic Fusion by Knowing Shadows was posted! And it was a meaty chapter, full of....stuff. It feels like the story is progressing. God, I love this fic.

Newest KKM raw manga posted at

conradxyuuri? Hilarious! There's a version of the silly bit in one of the CD dramas were Conrad and Yuuri sound like they are doing something very naughty and Wolfram loses it. And Gunter's frightening diary makes an appearance. XD

Today's happy song: No Sleep Tonight by The Faders is upbeat, fun, with a driving beat, and absolutely perfect for cruising on the freeway with the sun beating down shining brightly. AND the lyrics made me laugh (once I paid attention to them) because they reminded me of a certain type of McKay/Sheppard fic that SGA does soooo well.

( look at the lyrics and tell me I'm wrong )

And onto the SGA stuff proper:

A cool fic/music fusion based on Four Quarters by

trinityofone, a band!AU, The Best of The Puddlejumpers: Bootleg Edition. The music, the lyrics, the snippets, they all kind of come together. Very cool.

Waltz, tango, Foxtrot by

out_there is an adorable McKay/Sheppard AU (originally started for the Harlequin Challenge, so that should tell you something right there) in which Rodney takes dance lessons with his girlfriend. Their dance instructor? John. I loved Rodney: obnoxious and socially retarded, neurotic and big-mouthed. John just oozed, all over the place, yet managed to be real and sweet. ^^

mitethe pointed me at the terrifying clone!fic Convictions by

graycastle. Yowzers. Fics that take a premise and run and run and run...in such few words just blow me away. And the angst!

Such Is The Way to The Stars by Otter is one of those fun McKay/Sheppard fics I smile at every time I read it. How can anyone resist the opening:

When Rodney sat down -- a little too calmly, considering he'd entered the room at a sprint -- he said, "I've been here for the last twenty minutes. In case anyone asks."

John raised an eyebrow and put down his sandwich. It didn't actually taste much like turkey, anyway. "McKay?" he said, and he managed to insert a few layers of inquiry and reprimand into the word with no additional syllables.

Rodney waved one hand dismissively, and used the other to steal one of John's crackers. "Relax," he said. "It's nothing. Well, nothing they'll be able to prove, anyway."

And it only gets better!

GAH, I did it again. I found out two days after putting in my amazon japan order that Koicha no Osahou Volume 4 is out. I can only hope that there will be scans uploaded somewhere, but I really like owning my own copy. ;_;

I think I'm going to stop checking the news so carefully from now on. There are far too many depressing and/or infuriating and/or sad issues out there...Just too much. *sighs*

I gave in and read Bandages by Konitsu, a FFVII/FFVIII crossover even though I know nothing about FFVIII. I was confused about all the FFVIII characters and their world as I expected, but I was happy by the messed up SxC in it. XD

I've been telling myself I don't need more goods, but...mewants.

I'm not sure if it's worth the effort to download and reconstruct Bishonen Beauty. It's available via megauploads in parts (with subtitles!) here, but looks like it uses some specialized program and that just seems...a lot of work. :P Especially for a movie that some call cold, if beautiful to look at.

Oh, and random link for the day: There are 600,426,974,379,824,381,952 ways to spell Viagra. More things people really didn't need to know but someone decided to figure out. ^^;

fanfics for the win

i'm still not ready for 2013...

the fruits of wasting my time

The Fifth Act

evil addictive song and bunch o' fanfics

monday monday

random fanfic

nothing like a friday filled with reading a great fanfic

i walked down 38 stories twice today...

onigiri is too awesome for words

ff7...finally

it's may already!!

i'm thinking it's a sign

kuyashii~~~

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December 2015

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