Faker than Brit's "hair"

Today I finally got the chance to go to Japantown (although not back downtown to H&M, where I wanted to get some more clothes... *le sigh!*) since Dad called this morning and said since he didn't have a place for me to stay in Alameda overnight, he could just pick me up. Yay to that, because it means I can take more things with me than I could have if I had just gone to meet him at the Ferry Station today... actually, I thought I'd be in LA again by now, so by leaving tomorrow morning, we are cutting it a little close, since the big Passover dinner's tomorrow, and I bet Dad'll be tired from the drive.

In any case, I'm glad I got to go shopping and enjoy a crepe at Sophie's. Truthfully, there wasn't much in the way of manga that I wanted. I almost bought all of the current releases of Skip Beat!, but a) I have many of those volumes in Japanese already and b) I can probably get a discount by buying them en masse at Borders in Northridge, rather than Kinokuniya. Still, I ended up buying a new "DIY: Design-It-Yourself" book that looks kind of interesting, and the two Sailor Moon S and SuperS DVD boxed sets from the Japantown Video Store.

...And, as the subject line says, they're faker than... well, the most fake thing you can think of. Sad thing is, I halfway knew it even before I put the money down for them, because I noticed several things:
(1) The wrong cover for both of them (which I knew from looking at the eBay guide to spotting fake SM DVDs)
(2) Bad spelling on the covers
(3) "MEPG-2" format listed on one box (though so far they play in my DVD player)
And then when I finally bought them and cracked open the plastic, it was "waxy cardboard" with glued-in (albeit not too sloppily) DVD holders, and the covers of the Uncut SMS DVDs (since that was the one I started with) inside, rather than individually-sleeved DVDs or anything like that. Then the back of the DVDs said the most incriminating thing of all: Made in Taiwan.

So they're fake, but I got so fed up of trying to find the legit things through legit channels (and I surfed a lot-- I went to all the DVD sites I knew of, anime stores, C&C Central here in S.F., Pioneer's own website, and countless other places), so when I saw the boxed sets for right there, I grabbed them. I paid $162 for them both, which is probably a rip-off, all things considered... and I *am* halfway tempted to tell Mom to try and return them for me (even though I know the store has a policy of no refunds on opened DVD boxes), but then I would not only NOT have the money (because again, I doubt the store would refund to my credit card, and what good would $162 in Jtown store credit do me in LA?), but I wouldn't have *ANY* Sailor Moon to get my hands on.

If someone could truly promise me a legit source of SMS and SMSS, I'd gladly fork over the money, because I believe in supporting the original creators of a series whenever and wherever possible. But sometimes distributors here on this coast make it awful hard. I'm not saying they should perpetually renew licenses, but I do think for things as big as SM, it would pay to do "anniversary editions" or something if they could. Who knows how relations are now between all the big companies, anyway...

I checked out the first episode of S, and aside from a few lines of dialogue getting unsubtitled, they're not too bad. I even tested the English audio track, and sure enough, it's the annoying S-dub I remember getting glimpses of back when it was on Cartoon Network. I think the main menu is supposed to be animated and a bit crisper looking than it is, but aside from those few peeves, I guess everything's all right.

I've been feeling kind of ill off and on this whole week, which sucks (and is at least partially my excuse for not having caught up on my Japanese, bad girl that I am). Tonight after Mom, Gary, and I saw "Zodiac" at the 1000 (I think only ONE person from when I worked there is still there now, and he didn't see me), we went to Mel's near Parker (or whatever that street before the old Coronet is called), and I couldn't even finish a whole half of a grilled cheese. Admittedly, I had a Kid's Pack of popcorn and a soda at the theatre, but still, I was hungry after the fact... it's been like that for days, where I feel hungry, and I can even feel my mouth watering, but I just can't eat. The thought alone almost makes me nauseous. I don't know why though. It's not like I *want* to not eat, to lose weight (I'm already underweight or on the low-end scale of "normal" for my height), or anything. And I hate wasting food.

I felt so shitty yesterday, I thought for sure it was some form of hangover from my one lousy mango margarita (admittedly, I think it really *WAS* a whole pint), and Mom was saying something about how tequila isn't exactly a trustworthy liquor, but... who knows? My whole body's just on the fritz.

It's been nice being back here in S.F., in a way, and I do wish I could stay longer and help out more, see more people, and get more done (both doing stuff-wise and finishing things that should have already been done a while ago-wise). But I do sort of look forward to the big Sweet family gatherings. Shaina I know is going to want to trim my hair and probably pluck my eyebrows, but that's about as far as I'll let her go. I honestly think my time is better spent catching up on homework. Now that I don't have to worry about people butchering the computer (because the PC really isn't my problem anymore; I only use it for the rare PC games I have the random urge to play), they can park themselves on it and I won't care. Wireless is nice... :D

That said, I better try and sleep, since I will be waking up in less than 6 hours to shower. But I guess I can always sleep in the car ride back to LA.

Oh yes, and my birthday is in 7 days. :D :D :D :D :D