Mascot Roadkill Mark 2

I did write...

...a blog entry on the train home from London/Oxford, but I've decided it was far too depressingly self-indulgent to be posted. So this is essentially a place holder for the blog entry that will appear when I've got my life back in order. It's not at present, so I'd best do something about it before I turn into even more of a basket case.

>_<

Time since I left work - 5 mins
Time left before I have to be back at work - 40 mins

-_-

I'm having the worst day today. -_-

Node Love

I know bloggage has been a bit slack this week by my standards, but we've been busy at work, and it really isn't conducive to sitting down in front of the computer and putting together thoughts longer than about three words when I get home.

So anyway, first and foremost, GOOD LUCK JANE! If I've got it right, it all starts tomorrow doesn't it? o_0 At the very least, my finals seemed to go faster than I could think, so hopefully yours will too.

...I want to be back in Oxford. >_<

Oh yeah, speaking of going places, I've booked my ticket to Japan for September. It's a nice feeling knowing that I'm doing it for real. Before I phoned up the flight agency it felt more like something that might just happen maybe. Well tough, I have a flight to Japan and I'm going to use it. o_0 This does, of course, mean that I will have to be off to the Japanese embassy on Friday. Not a thought that I relish, if it's anything as scary as going to the American embassy was. I'm telling you, the enormous crash barriers and people with guns scared me alright. o_0 You never know, it might be more friendly at the Japanese embassy. Plus if I finish there at a reasonable hour I can go and London for a bit (yes that is a verb, why do you ask? :p)

Yes, and since I'm in London on Friday, I'm coming up to Oxford to disturb you all from your healthy working routines for the bank holiday weekend. Someone had darn well better make it sunny because I want to sit in the park. o_0

Ah, I knew there was a reason I'd given this blog entry such a probably-spammer-attracting title. I am most gleeful as I now have a copy of CorelDRAW (the graphics suite I use at work) on my computer. Mmmmm decent line drawing program. I know it's heresy in this group to encourage the use of anything that isn't Photoshop or Paintshop, but Corel's so darn wonderful I can't draw without it these days. o_0 Photoshop is still my program of choice for colouring (especially now since I've been playing with the .pat files ^____^) but Corel is infinitely better for getting the nuts and bolts of a drawing done first. It's the nodes. Nodes are my friends.

...I totally mustn't mention that Corel-tan file incubating on the PC upstairs. o_0

Some days are better than others...

And that's about all I have to say concerning work today. At least it's Friday tomorrow. I tend to get shouted at less (well, *differently*) at the weekend. -_-

Weekend Roundup

...prefixed by the truly awesome surprise I got from her this afternoon in the post. Happiness is a big Laughing Man sticker. ^___________________^

Weekend was supremely good, to the point where I spent yesterday evening in bed sulking about not being in Oxford more. @_@ Defeats the object of a nice weekend somewhat, but there's not a great deal I can do about my mental state at the best of times. o_0

Anyway, the awesomeness of an Oxford weekend was very much appreciated. Highlights very much included communal Doctor Who watching on Saturday night (it's SO GOOD to watch Doctor Who with people who aren't complaining about it all the way through >_<), lovely lovely (but so very bad for me :D) Oxford food, and just being in The Homeland again. I hate being away from a place I feel so much of a happy connection with, especially when the alternative is a town of which I only have unpleasant feelings. I had to spend a small part of Sunday afternoon communing with the architecture, just because it makes me feel better about life. Oxford is just an inherently happy-filled place to me, it really is. The buildings make me happy, the parks make me happy and the complete abundance of people able to make me feel loved without even trying...well, it's not much to say that they make me most happy of all.

But yeah, stop being sentimental you old bat. @_@ I know what else made me pleased. Spreading the anime love on behalf of Trinity Blood and Damekko Doubutsu. I told you they were good. ^_____^ Her having latched so very much onto HC-IIIX amuses me a great deal, as does the all-conquering LOVE FOR YUNIHIKO! YOU KNOW YOU HAVE IT!

Love Yunihiko, love.

There really ought to be a review for Trinity Blood 3 in here somewhere but I'm sleepy. Suffice to say, Esther glee because I like what I have seen of her in the manga, general wampire glee because just because, and has anyone told the Catholic church about these future female bishops yet?

*headdesk so. much.*

I hate you Funimation. I hate you so, so much.

*kicks Windows Media Player for good measure*

Right...

Plan for today:

Go to work, leave early.
Rush home, throw things in bag.
Get train.
Get to Oxford.

YAAAAAY!!!

Dear BBC..

RESEARCH YOUR ARTICLES PROPERLY *angers*

Little is known about Tutankhamun's 10-year rule after he succeeded Akhenaten, who had abandoned Egypt's old gods in favour of monotheism.

HENOTHEISM is the word. Akhenaten NEVER claimed the other gods didn't exist, he just didn't worship them therefore he was NOT a monotheist.

Some historians had argued he was killed for attempting to bring back polytheism.

Well if they do I've never encountered them, and they sure haven't studied Egyptology very well. The sole worship of the Aten disappeared essentially as soon as Akhenaten died. BECAUSE HE WAS A NUT.

*angry Egyptologist*

Well I have to have some use for a degree in this...

*groans*

I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be in trouble at work tomorrow, don't ask me why. >_<

Metal Gear Bishoujo

Darn it, I am so predictable, I really am. o_0 I have a new game. It has eaten most of my weekend in a fit of fangirlish glee. It is, indeed, Metal Gear Bishoujo.

...or, y'know, Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex, as other people call it.

Now, as a rule, I hate stealth shooters. If it involves me having to aim for myself, I generally run away in a huff. However, it is also a rule that the addition of Motoko Kusanagi into anything makes it a million times better (boiling vats of oil, doujinshi and fanboy dreams excluded). And so, with all predictability, you can imagine I am very pleased with this game.

As with just about everything in the Ghost in the Shell franchise, the game is excruciatingly pretty, in a happy, grey, dystopian kinda of way. (What, *I* think that's pretty/happy... o_0) You get guns, Motoko, occasionally Batou/Tachikoma (but frankly Motoko is where it's at) and lots of things to shoot. One feature I do particularly like in the gameplay is the ability to obtain ID keys and ghost-hack your enemies. ^____^ What this means, essentially, is that you can control your opponents and make them do fun things, like, say, take each other out. ^___^

One particularly geeky thing that does make me happy about the game is the attention to detail they've put into it. Franchise games can be incredibly disappointing a lot of the time because of the lack of consistency/accuracy with the source material. SAC, however, really can't be faulted on this front. As far as I can observe, the cast is all present and correct from the English dub (I _like_ the English dub. :p I think Motoko's voice actress is wonderful,) they bothered to put in all the minor members of Section Nine, and (most importantly because they just know everyone who likes Ghost in the Shell is a weapons otaku like its creator) they have the right weaponry. ^_____^ It's nitpicky, I know, but it makes me happy.

So yes, happy Katy. And just because this entry wasn't geek-tastic enough, this makes me happy. But only because she's possibly my favourite os-tan. ^_^;;;

^___^

I just had a totally free night out with bowling, posh Chinese food and taxiing. My boss is the best. ^___________^

...I'm really tired though. o_0

eeHEE!! ^____^

I'm so happy with the Trinity Blood anime! ^______________^

....but now I have to go to work. More later. o_0

Edit: Since I was at work until 7:30 tonight, I am not actually compos mentis. The entire factory imploded this afternoon into a big mess of very stressed-out people so I couldn't very well leave my boss in the lurch. o_0 As a result of this, however, I don't think I have the mental energy to write my review. But here are some thoughts:

- I heart Abel. He is wonderful and spazztastic and I love him. He is also supremely cool in his alter-ego form. ^____^

- I heart the Bishoun-a-pope. Also Catherine because she so totally knows where it's at. Catherine blatently=Catholic Integra Hellsing.

- It's a shame the only English subbers so far really haven't done that great a job of it. Sister Keith my arse. It's Kate. >_< And Alvion, that well known synonym for the country London is in. >_< (Alright, maybe that reference is a bit obscure for your average American fansubbing group but it bothers me. >_<)

- The animation has retained the prettiness of the manga and book art surprisingly well. Also a large number of the artwork/panel shots. You make me happy, Gonzo. You might be unimaginative to some, but to me at least you looked at the source materials. ^___^

- I want more. >_<

IIJAN IIJAN!

Now you all know what you have to do to keep me and Yunihiko happy.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Or something. Frankly I'm not that bothered about going back to work, now that I have a bearable job. I didn't blog about how I got to play with 2000°C lasers on Friday, did I? That's more than you ever get to do with the dangerous technology at your work. :p I was learning how to engrave things, it was muchly fun. Especially the part where he warned me not to get my hands near the laser because it's incredibly good at amputating things. o_0

The bank holiday was...something. To be honest I don't feel all that much like blogging about it, what with the family situation not being the *most* fun in the world. It's ticking over, that's as much as I really want right now. I had a nice afternoon today though, lazing in the back garden in a forced attempt to ignore everything on the planet that didn't live either on my rug or in the pond. I feel asleep very quickly. It was lovely. I also got started on my frequently thought about project concerning The Count of Monte Cristo, which keeps me happy in an English (French? o_0) Lit homework sort of way. Making a huge and detailed plan of the characters in the book, chiefly because I got lost about half way through reading it. ^___^ It is actually going to be enormous, and I invite anyone who feels like it to help on a parallel Gankutsuou version. o_0

Anyway, tea's ready now so I suppose I'll have to go. At some point I'll come back and add a review of my sisters' (!) choice of dvd today, The House of Flying Daggers.

....

22.25 Since I'm at a mental blank with my enormous Monte Cristo page in Photoshop (so. many. people. I have thirty characters already and that's just off the top of my head >_<), I'll come back to this. The House of Flying Daggers. Spoilers ahoy, and I can tell you that for certain because I want to discuss the ending. Can't get much more spoiler-shaped than that, I suppose. o_0

I liked this film, but I have no doubts I would have liked it considerably more if I hadn't seen and loved Hero beforehand. I hate making the blindingly obvious comparision between the two, but if Hollywood is going to have these fleeting romances with Asian films then it's going to be inevitable. And I hate to be cruel to Flying Daggers, but it does pale in comparision to Hero. The cinematography, though fantastic, really doesn't compare. One thing that struck me particularly was the lack of colour in a lot of the scenes in Flying Daggers. Well, the lack of colours that weren't green. Whether this was intentional or not, I don't know, but it didn't quite provide the stimulating visuals it could have.

I had a fair bit of beef with the plot to the film too, sadly. The almost constant "AHA! But I'm not who you think I am!" got a bit annoying towards the end, though without it there really wouldn't have been much left. But then the plot wasn't exactly up to much in Hero, was it? (Darn you, same writing team in both films, darn you like socks!)

Despite all my nitpicking, like I said, I did like the film. It had sufficient amounts of fighting and dancing in to keep me happy, and a quality "and then we all fell about dead" ending. I like my melodramas like I like my melodramas - with everyone dying at the end. Call me strange, I just think it makes a suitable ending to overblown romantic story. Especially when they fight for a bajillion years then pop up out of the snow only to kill each other. That's good melodrama, that is.

Now I just have to convince the sibling units that they want to rent Hero.