azurite: (mars says let 'em burn)
Okay, so in light of me trying to find some semi-decent Sailor Moon classic fics, I have decided to peruse Alicia Blade's "First Love: Usagi and Mamoru Beginnings" C2 over at FFnet. First Love actually used to be a pretty massive fanfic archive; it moved around a lot, died, and then was finally reborn in the form of a pretty ambiguous C2.

For me, first impressions come from two major things: the title and the summary. The summary, of course, has much more weight than the title, but it can vary. So I've decided to give myself a bit of an exercise and ignore the title and summary as best as I can, and then just read THE FIRST LINE/PARAGRAPH of the story. If I like it, I'll keep reading. Who knows, maybe it'll be worth it. But you can help me judge.

To read or not to read, THAT is the question! )

God, is there such a thing as GOOD Sailor Moon fic anymore? No, let me revise that -good Sailor Moon fic, preferably from Classic (because that's the season I'm watching at the moment, therefore the season I want to read), and something I've never read before. Better if it's new, EVEN BETTER if it's finished.

Nominate stuff. Judge stuff. Give me the first line or first paragraph. And pass it on for your fandom.

Another insane idea that involves coding likely too complicated for my brain )

Plotusagi!

Jun. 26th, 2006 12:45 pm
azurite: (Default)
So between finishing reading Hearts of Ice (Ranma 1/2) and watching Sailor Moon classic for the 200 Days of Sailor Moon project (complete with dub comparisons courtesy of YouTube) AND my pre-existing plotbunny for Seiya x Usagi for [livejournal.com profile] sm_monthly, I have been STRUCK! yet again!

I've always been a fan of first season romances, but when I write, I just have more fun with SMR, because the break-up (obviously I'm talking anime-verse here, not manga or PGSM) and the time travel elements always appeal to me. So why not mix up a little bit of both? So here's the general gist:

For reasons as-yet-unknown, Usagi (from SMR at least, or Stars at most) goes back in time. How far back? Is it enough to prevent the other Senshi (save Venus) from being awakened? What about her knowledge that Mamoru will either break-up with her/blame their entire relationship on "destiny" rather than true love, or the fact that he will die for her? Usagi knows the truth: about Beryl, the Dark Kingdom, the Nijizuishou and the Ginzuishou... but will knowing save her? Usagi seems a different person, and the way she is determined to protect those she loves may cause an adverse ripple effect that no one is able to predict...

This sounds like something that has to have been done before though, so before I get giddy and try to write it, would someone be so kind as to point me in the direction of a fic that features Usagi time traveling to "fix" things? I don't know why I like this idea so much-- it's something that comes up in "Circle of Seven," definitely in "Time Sphere," that tentative FFX/2 fic I never wrote, and of course, in "Death and Absolution." I love time travel!
azurite: (double trouble minako & usagi)
Quite possibly the dumbest question I will ever ask on here:
ZSNES emulator, latest version (1.42).
Keyboard controls set to the following:

A: Tab
B: Caps Lock
X: LShft
Y: LCtrl
Left shoulder: ~
Right shoulder: Bksp
Dir Pad: Arrow keys

So when I see a "cheat code" that says "press Right, Y, Left, A, Down, X at the title screen," are "right" and "left" the directional keys (right arrow, left arrow) or are they the shoulders? It would make more sense to be the shoulders, but for this particular game (Sailor Moon Super Kurukkurin), pressing ~ or Bksp just speeds up the game into turbo mode on the title screen, until it switches into Demo play. So unless I'm pressing this in the wrong place or wrong sequence or have my keyboard configured wrong, how the heck do you enter keyboard cheats on the ZSNES emulator?
azurite: (gundam senshi!)
Happy Father's Day!

I don't think there are (too many?) fathers on my FL, but in case there are, or even for the girls who have dads out there, this is my wish from me to you/them! :)

Today for Dad's day, I actually spoke to my estranged and bald father (what, it's the truth!). Thankfully, he wasn't mean to me over the phone, but our discussion was about as warm and fluffy as stale bread. Not ice cold or anything, but more half-baked than anything else. He said he was going to be busy for the whole summer; I told him I knew when I was leaving to Japan; he said to keep him posted. That was pretty much it. I told him Happy Father's Day, but after he threw such a snit this past week over me calling him TWICE (to find out his address so I could send him a PRESENT), I decided not to bother with it at all. Knowing him, he would misinterpret the picture I selected for the travel mug I wanted to get for him anyway; an old one of me, him, and Michelle. I was only 1 year old or so, so I don't remember it, but it must have been before my parents divorced, if Michelle was at a Sweet family gathering. I looked very cute and small in the picture, and Dad was holding me and pointing at the camera for Michelle, who was grinning like a hyena.

...He did say something very nice about her on Passover during the blessings, but I don't want to think he's above insulting either me or my mother. Doing it via my sister would just make me hate him even more, so I won't jinx it. Dad doesn't even get me birthday presents or anything, so why the hell should I return the favor? Maybe if I'm feeling generous later in the month, I'll get it for him for his birthday on the 29th.

Maybe Cancers and Aries just can't get along?

HAH! I was right! )

Anyway, back to Dad's Day... I intended to treat Grandpa and Baba out to dinner at Olive Garden, but even after we got there (we knew there'd be a wait; Grandpa and I went to the mall. I had to pick up some more Proactiv and some soaps from Bath & Bodyworks. But apparently they'd paged Baba while she was waiting, and since we weren't there, we all had to wait an extra 10 minutes), they refused to let me pay! I mean, it was nice, considering I'd just dropped $82 at the mall for my own personal needs, but geez! It kind of ruins the point of father's day when the father pays for the food! :( Oh well, we all enjoyed ourselves- we literally stuffed ourselves with salad, bread sticks, pasta, and raspberry cheesecake. I had cheese ravioli and coke, Baba had unlimited Minestrone soup and salad, and Grandpa had apricot-braised chicken with seasonal veggies.

Back to the mall though-- bad experience with the guy at the kiosk cart. Long story short, he accused me (none-too-subtly, either) of cutting in line! Jerk. I came there knowing exactly what I wanted. I didn't have questions to ask, large bills that may have been counterfeit, or anything of the sort. He was such a twat, I wish I could report him somehow. But I settled for complaining on [livejournal.com profile] no_tip_for_you.

I've been rewatching Sailor Moon (Season 1) for alt.fan.sailor-moon (AFSM) and having a grand time learning all these things I never knew, and looking at the series in a new light. While SMR is my favorite season to write fic for, and SMS is my favorite season to watch, I've been getting plotbunnied by the same insane Usagi x Seiya idea I've had for a while, something I intended to write for [livejournal.com profile] sm_monthly (even though I don't do well with deadlines for fic). The more of SM I watch, the more it pesters me, even if the season is totally wrong! So I'm looking forward to watching SMR and getting into it for real.

Oh, and for the record, see my icon? Yeah, well, I've been commissioned (sort of) to do one like that with the Yu-Gi-Oh cast.
Sailor Moon - ???
Sailor Mercury - Rebecca
Sailor Mars - Mokuba
Sailor Jupiter - Shizuka
Sailor Venus - Mai
Chibiusa/Chibimoon - Yugi
Black Lady - Yami no Yuugi
Sailor Uranus - Jounouchi
Sailor Neptune - ???
Sailor Pluto - Isis
Sailor Saturn - Anzu
Tuxedo Mask - Seto

Anyone got any suggestions for pictures to manip, or rearrangements of this here cast? :D
azurite: (usagi o rly?)
So over on AFSM (that's alt.fan.sailor-moon to you non-Usenet Internet n00bs... Kekeke!), a guy started this "200 Days of Sailormoon" project wherein he watches 1 episode a day until he hits the total 200-- just like it was when we were "kids" (okay, not all of us were kids back in 1992. I was, though!) and we had to wait an agonizing school day before we saw another new dub episode. Now we can complain about the dub, but we have to love it for introducing us to the series in the first place- and in my case, to anime and manga in general. And today was Episode 12 day - "I want a boyfriend too! A Trap on a Luxury Cruise Ship!"

So I added my two cents, and I also took screen caps using VLC Media Player of Episode 12. They're all Hi-Res screen caps in PNG format, posted on the alt.binaries.pictures.sailor-moon group... 198 of them, to be precise. Alas, I think the PNG format is larger than expected, because PowerPost 2000 is breaking up the files into 2-4 parts per image, and I don't know of an encoder/recompiler! I used to use Outlook Express, which had an embedded recompiler; does anyone know of one? (Otherwise I'll feel pretty stupid about posting my first large-scale flood and messing up royally.)

Gomen ne sunao ja nakute... )
azurite: (yami wants to play monopoly)
Ah, crazy ol' me has decided to sell all of my Yu-Gi-Oh TCG cards. Probably even the ones I thought I couldn't part with before, like my special promos and my Dragon Deck. I mean, aside from decoration in my Duel Disk when I cosplay Anzu, what's the use? I might keep a single deck's worth, but they'll only be for decoration.

Anyway, the reason why I haven't announced anything on [livejournal.com profile] yu_gi_oh or similar comms/mailing lists yet is because I'm compiling a list of all the cards. That's a lot of cards-- 448 just for Normal Monsters, and I'm only about 1/3 through the Effect Monsters. Then come Ritual and Fusion Monsters, then Spells/Magic, and finally, Traps. So I have lots to sell. I'm going to buy a Beckett's or Pojo guide in the hopes of getting updated values for the cards, since I am essentially selling EVERYTHING, but I want to know what to package (either by theme/deck type or as "grab bag") and what to sell individually.

I don't know why this has got me so excited; I don't even know if/when I'll make any money off this. But I'd like to try. :) If anyone on my FL is interested in Yu-Gi-Oh TCG cards, drop me a line and I'll see if I can sell you something.

I've also decided that another one of my summer projects (aside from getting organized, as usual) is to participate in the June [livejournal.com profile] sm_monthly. The theme is finally something I *WANT* to do-- namely "Starlights." I've had a few plot bunnies lying around that I want to tackle, so hopefully tomorrow's first theme will serve as inspirational. If I can't finish WDKY (lack of inspiration, really...) then at least I can focus my creativity somewhere. I'd like to finish my themed icon claims too, but yeesh, that'll take even longer and requires even more resources.

Finally, there's WikiFic, which I already mentioned I'm working on. So sign up, help out, and check what pages and images we need. There's tons of pages where I'm lacking information, and I still need to get Help and How To pages up. Even I'm still learning about all the possibilities of Wiki!

That said, I do need to get up early later this morning (eheh) and shower and go to Borders to get that price guide. So I'm going to try and sleep in this hot house of a bedroom now... (fan on, check! windows open, check! light blankets, check! Now let's just hope I don't have freaktacular dreams tonight.)
azurite: (unforgotten uranepu)
And everybody say WHEE! Blue Eyes and Apricots, the web's first, official, and ONLY (English) Azureshipping fanlisting now has -count 'em- 400 members! Congratulations to Rea-kun from Malta, who will probably not read this, but who is the kick-buttingest 400th member. I think I should do something special, but what, I do not know. (No, I will not change the layout. Dammit, that layout was hard enough to put together! :P If anything, I can change the colors and the picture but THAT IS IT!)

Spread the word, yo. We've been getting more members than EVER lately, and it makes me so happy! :D :D :D I have some new fanart to put up soon too (from... you guessed it, Rea-kun!) among other things, so at least there's always some new content to check out. I need some more recs and nominations for the Fanfics and Websites sections too, though, so drop me a line, ne?

This is my last week of school before finals. I have four finals, as far as I know:
* Japanese (duh)
* Women writers of Asia (identification... should be easy.)
* Geography (X_X)
* English (X_X;;;)

I finished my term paper for WWA, and I was quite pleased with it-- maybe because the intended length was 8-10 pages, and I ended up with 14. I had to shrink the font and change the font family to get it to fit. :P This is good news though, because I ended up cutting big chunks out, compared to my outline. This means when I actually get around to expanding it and editing it for my scholarship project (which is to write on contemporary writers of Japan, mainly female writers, and in contrast with male writers), I'll have lots of material to work with.

Today I just finished a paper for Geography on symbolic landscapes, and being the urbanite I am, I chose to write about a fourth landscape (this is in addition to D.W. Meinig's list if three from 1979: the New England village, the Middle-American Main street, and Californian Suburbia): the urban landscape. It was limited to 2 pages and a sketch map page, so I hope I did well on it. Prof. Davidson peered over to my paper while I was attempting to draw a lumpy model of San Francisco. :P

I have an idea for my editorial (that is, my second one, because damned if I can come up with another full-length feature piece in less than a day. Bad Mer, bad!) - California is behind the times. Hell, the whole United States is, but California is the worst off, especially here in So. Cal. Now, I haven't heard anyone vocally railing about it on *MY* FL, but that could be due to other reasons... but gas is at an all-time high here in CA. $3.37 is the cheapest you'll find here in Northridge; in San Diego, you were lucky if you saw below $3.54. I saw a $3.61 there, and Baba said she saw a $3.70-something. I realize gas prices as a whole are going up around the country, but CA's always had the higher prices, because we have so many damn people dependent on gas. We can get gas from the South and from Alaska, but somehow, that still doesn't help us. Then you look at countries like Japan, where their public transportation system is RELIABLE and EFFICIENT. I don't know a lot about their environmental policies (they still allow smoking in public restaurants, so...) or fuel usage, but Hummers wouldn't be popular there, and I saw more minivans than I did SUVs while I was there. It's sort of like telling someone they have to cut off their arm to save their life- people just don't want to do it, even if a part of them recognizes it's for the greater good. Are we stupid or just sick?

To do:
* See various departments about transferable credit from Tokiwa. Get them to sign the forms now so that when I come back, they can't double-cross me. I should do that tomorrow, since I need the course catalog.

* Finish up my online resume at meredithsweet.com :D (Go check it out. Tell me if I'm missing anything, if anything needs editing, etc. The front page only has a short intro right now, but so far, I like it.)

* FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICS. I'm already 2000+ words into [livejournal.com profile] atlantian_magic's Sousuke x Kaname piece, which [livejournal.com profile] mklutz, you will be pleased (I hope) to note that it's a continuation/sequel to the fic I did for you, "Counting." :) I never intended it to be so long, but... hey, it's just one of those universes. I've also got a good idea for the Ed x Winry piece [livejournal.com profile] geniusgirl wanted, so I'll get started on that as soon as I'm done with SxK. Oh yeah, and WDKY24. I want it OUT! OUT, I SAY!

* She is the one named Sailor Moon! I was messing with my Thunderbird settings yesterday (remember folks: compact your Inbox often!) and decided to haunt alt.fan.sailor-moon for a bit, and found a HI-larious post on the possibility of yet another live action SM movie. With Jennifer Garner as the main villain. Hahaha, yeah right. But still, funny. And then someone posted a YouTube link to the elusive Episode 67, wherein Chibiusa BEFRIENDS A DINOSAUR. That was a cute episode, even if the animation style degenerated by about 2 seasons. But yeah, Sailormoon. So totally into it again. :D

* AX? Who here is going to AnimeExpo 2006? I mean the one in Anaheim. Because (I think I mentioned this before) someone requested I go, and there *IS* a brand-new Sheraton there. Mom thinks she can get me the StarHot or whatever it's called rate, which is TEH UBER CHEAP! So why not? I'd just pay for the pre-reg and the shuttle there (if Mom wanted to erase the rest of her debt by paying for THAT hotel room too. She paid for all of Fanime, which surprised the crap out of me) and whatever I saw and wanted that I didn't get at Fanime. And hell, I'll even cosplay Anzu. :D I just want to do a lot of things before I go to Japan.

>_> I hope I got a decent grade on my English paper/Kate Chopin's 'The Storm,' even if it was late.
azurite: (indiana ed (fma))
[livejournal.com profile] ceruleansan, I hope you know this is ALL YOUR FAULT. YOU STARTED IT!
And if I get plotbunnied and start writing Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction, I KNOW WHO I'M COMING AFTER TO BETA MY FICS! *angry stare*

Yeah, so I've kind of gotten, er... well, let's use a light form of "obsessed," shall we? Interested in the FMA series. CeruleanSan had me downloading scanlations from StopTazmo, and I've managed to get up to Chapter 20 or thereabouts. She wanted a new convert to the whole Ed x Winry pairing, and I'm so far inclined to agree with her-- a bit. There really isn't a whole ton of romance or innuendo, or backstory beyond how Ed and Al got to where they are.

I admit- parts of the manga are extremely funny, but I don't think ANY manga has ever had me crying so much within a few chapters. Yu-Gi-Oh only brought me to tears when I realized IT WAS OVER, not at any point during the first arc. Even Sailormoon, with the DEATH! and the TRAGIC!OMG etc... even in the live-action, it was always toward the END that I was sobbing like a baby. And okay, FMA didn't have me sobbing like a baby, but the sad parts (people getting murdered, kittens being dead, etc.) had me sniffling and wishing I could click away-- but I couldn't. :P

So I download about 3 chapters at a time while doing something else online. I read them all once they've finished downloading, and once I get 700 MB worth (which may take awhile; I've got something like 97 MB now, and that's *20* chapters!), I'll burn it to CD.

Sucky thing is that the quality really went down around Ch. 18. I don't mean the manga or even the scans- just the translating. All of a sudden, words were horribly misspelled, apostrophes and commas were left out, and chapter titles weren't translated at all anymore. Some omake bits and cover scans were left out altogether! It was kinda sad. If anyone knows where the HQ scans are, I'll wait longer-- just so I can read scanlations in REAL English, not that kindergarten crap that passes for English these days. (I like "Engrish," but there's no humor in stuff that's halfway between Engrish and English. It's called LAZINESS.)

UGH! One more week until I get paid, two more weeks until "finals" (I actually don't have finals for all of my classes. I do have tons of WORK to get done, especially by the end of this week, so I better get cracking.), and three weeks until FANIME! I still haven't reserved a shuttle to the airport and back again though, and Mom hasn't paid me or covered any portion of the hotel room yet. I should call her about that (well, she DID offer! It'll shave some off the money she still owes me, at any rate). At least I'll have April's paycheck (or will it be May's?) to cover Fanime and the like, and I'll be making MORE money in the summer, assuming I get more hours (which I hope I do).

Ooh, and for Mother's Day weekend, I'm going to San Diego on the choo-choo! :D I'm going to make Scott's mom a card, because even if I don't see her, she's been way nice to me. I know I'm going to see Scott at least on Friday night/Saturday morning, so he can pass the card on. I think I'll be at Joyce's for Sunday, but I don't know what exactly we're doing. (I hope Joyce wins her court case today against the insurance guys, because it'd be sucky for her and Baba to try and celebrate Mother's Day if she DIDN'T win.)

More FFX-2 and Da Vinci Code Quest schtuff )

Meme ga aru! )

Ugh, still need a new LJ layout (got sick of the Lisa Frank kitties). DAMN YOU MUSE! Where ARE you!?
azurite: (usagi o rly?)
I wonder if it's that time of year or what, but I've just been SO nostalgic lately. When I was at Target with Baba and Grandpa, I ended up buying two Kid Cuisine meals-- one corn dog, one chicken nugget. I ate them both already; they were both so tasty, even if they were dorky! I guess it goes to show Baba's right; I do eat like a bird (or a child, anyway).

And today, I realized (out of nowhere) that I haven't been subscribed to any newsgroups lately. I know, people are like "Whar? Newsgroups?" Well, I'm an OLD-TIMER on this side here of the Internet, and back in the day before Onelist (formerly eGroups, now Yahoo! Groups), we used this nifty thing known as the USENET. There was no Fanfiction.net, there was only rec.arts.anime.creative. And everyone who was anyone knew what "OW!" stood for, and it wasn't what someone said when they stubbed their virtual toe on some bedpost of the WWW.

So I re-subscribe to all my favorites-- namely alt.fan.sailor-moon. There wasn't a whole lot on there-- these days, it doesn't surprise me. But someone posted a message with links to two favorite AMVs of mine when I was younger, and much more active in the fandom:
RedWolf's "She's Your Venus" by Bananarama, and Aluminum Studio's "Blue Mercury," by that techno-guy from back when I was in middle school or something. All it took was those and it got me almost SNIFFLY.

I MISS SAILOR MOON! I miss it a lot!

I miss the SMRFF! I miss "road trips" and holidays, WAFF vs. TAFF wars, kite flying, being called Andi, getting another onee-chan or three, EMSiTs, admiring the older, cooler Meredith, and reading fluff till my face turned pink, and angst until I cried!

I miss ASMR! (I can't say I miss Aria's Ink, because I never did figure out how to work their system.)

I don't watch/play/read/participate in it nearly enough! And dammit, I have fics to finish, rewrite, and sites to revise!

The best way to re-expose myself to fandom would be to watch the series again, but I own only Seasons 1&2, a few episodes of 3, none of 4, and all of 5. I only have 2 of the movies (R and S, not SuperS), and they're all on VHS, rather than DVD... which I need to get. I most definitely want to invest in getting the S DVD collection, but I have NO money right now, and I wouldn't be surprised to find it at Fanime for cheap.

So I'll try and hold out again, but gee! I'm almost excited. I kind of want to play "Another Story" again and write that fic idea I had for it so long ago... or maybe make some icons. :} I definitely need to watch more AMVs to get me into it.

Whee!

With that in mind, a test for the TRUE fans of Sailor Moon! )
azurite: (aries)
Attention [livejournal.com profile] dqbunny, [livejournal.com profile] mklutz, [livejournal.com profile] rhapsody_dragon!
I made you some presents. Sort of.
Don't eat anything while looking at these. )

If anyone else would like one of these, comment with a list of NO MORE THAN FIVE interests from your interest list, or other things that you like. They should be ONE word interests only, and as specific as possible (except in one or two cases). I will choose a few of those terms and see what cool conceptual art I can come up with! Then I'll post the "gift wallpapers" here for you to enjoy or further tinker with!
azurite: (what the shit is this!?)
zOMG. Crazy-ass idea.

Sailormoon: Pharaoh 90
Yu-Gi-Oh: Pharaoh Atemu.

Come on.

It's just asking to be fic'd. Somebody. Something. I need to make this idea more coherent. But damn. Why didn't I see it before?

Oh, and in case you missed my earlier voice post, here's a run-through of what's what... )

Anybody subscribed to my FFnet alerts will now know that I have written my first-ever Harry Potter fic; it was for the [livejournal.com profile] dmhgficexchange, and is titled "Secret of the Shrieking Shack." If the community name wasn't a dead-giveaway, it's a Draco/Hermione fic, but there's very little actual romance between them; more like snark and action. :) Go read it and tell me what you think of my first foray into HP-ficdom. I should probably post it at FictionAlley, [livejournal.com profile] dramione, and MMorg while I'm at it. o_o

Heh, [livejournal.com profile] mmagnet_ff, "cinemanga" sounds like cinnamon-flavored manga. o_o

HEY! So who wants to help beta WDKY23? I might as well just ask for chapter-by-chapter commitment, instead of general WDKY editors. I'm especially open to people who want to exchange one thing for another; that is, I'll beta for you if you beta for me. If you're stuck with an idea, want a grammar Nazi to clean up your narrative, or just want someone to bounce ideas off of, I'm your girl! I'm open to the usual fandoms, but my squick is slash-- I don't do it. So feel free to let me know. :)

I've worked a bit more on my [livejournal.com profile] iconfiend100 claim for Seto x Anzu, and so far, I have 14/100 done. It's a pathetic amount, considering how long I've had the claim, but I went for a very long while with NO iconspiration. Lately, it's been fic, fic, all the time, and even now, that's hard, because I don't want to disappoint with Ch. 24. I might be a bit overeager to get to 25+ (for reasons that must remain confidential), but I still want to make WDKY as a whole the best fic it can be.

Back to the icons... I'll work on some more as I get inspired and find source art (be it anime, manga, or fanart). I've got 49 ACs left, and the following themes: forgiveness (I wanted to find an image of Seto from the Battle City/Noa's World arc, when he's on his knees in front of Anzu. Anyone have said image?), soft (Romeo & Juliet, much?), loneliness, working, abandoned, hug, smile (Myco's song?), tears, sunshine (Mamono, how'd you do that effect on my WDKY icon, anyway?), innocence, so far away, stars (DMG!Anzu? But how would Seto work into that?), in the moonlight, tickle, sweet dreams, blue, honorable, walls, happiness, food, over the rainbow (the song, duh), sugar + spice, holiday, beginner's luck, forgotten, misery loves company (that Kysra art of drill sergeant!Seto making Téa do pushups...?), candy, present, starving, joy, heaven, 31 flavors, silk, keeping a secret, open doors, lace, forever and a day. Any input is appreciated!
azurite: (kaname sousuke hug)
[livejournal.com profile] guardian_kysra, thank you! ^^ Yesterday after you suggested I invoke/pray to St. Anthony, I did just that-- and not a few hours later, Mom called to tell me she found my deck box right where I dreamed I'd left it! So she's going to send it to me soon, along with a bunch of my manga. :3

Something that's been annoying me
* People calling Priest Set(o) "Seth." For the billionth time, "Seth" is a Hebrew name. According to ancient history, the Jews/Hebrews and the Egyptians have never gotten along. There's also a controversy in regards to whether or not there really were slaves. I don't mean whether there were Hebrews there or NOT-- I mean that our idea of slaves =/= the Egyptian idea of slaves.

So even if there were "slaves" around at that time in Egypt (and also of note is the fact that neither 3,000 nor 5,000 years ago are accurate representations of the Egypt shown in Yu-Gi-Oh. Yes, the years cited are "canon," but they're not historically accurate. And since there's no "th" sound in Japanese NOR are there any hieroglyphic representations of Kaiba's past life name, we have NO WAY OF KNOWING what his name "truly" was other than what Takahashi told us, historically out-of-whack or not) Seto's father was a high priest- and brother to the former Pharaoh. Even if his wife was a "slave" or a "Hebrew," Akunadin would have had another, main wife who was Egyptian-- and she would have borne him sons that would inherit his property and duties. But afaik, Seto is the only child, and he was born to a high, esteemed life. It's unlikely that he was a slave's son.

During pharaonic times no slave markets seem to have existed. But even if slavery was never as pervading in Egypt as it was to be in other ancient societies, such as the Greek or Roman, it appears that slaves were traded widely from the New Kingdom onwards.

In Yu-Gi-Oh, it's said that Atemu's reign/the start of the AE arc takes place during the 18th Dynasty/VERY beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1295 BCE). But the original manga and anime says 3,000 (considering the series started in 1996, that would be about 1004 BCE) years ago, while the dub opted for 5,000 years (c. 3004 BCE) ago. Who the hell knows why?

Something I noticed was that, AE plot aside, the idea of a Pharaoh being erased from existence certainly rings a bell. Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten, anyone? But he ruled from c. 1332-1336 BCE. He may have been Tutankhamun's (King Tut)'s father, but we don't know for sure.

To put it in a nutshell, "Seth" is a Hebrew name; the character we see in Yu-Gi-Oh (based on his, his father's, and his cousin's/Atemu's established past) is thoroughly Egyptian. Pharaohs and even high priests tended to have multiple names, all Egyptian. Even if somewhere WAY THE HELL DOWN THE LINE Seto had some Hebrew lineage, his current family line would NOT acknowledge it. His name would most certainly not be Hebrew, especially if he's considered the next in line for the throne if something were to happen to Atemu (which he is).

By the way, this is coming from someone with a strong Jewish lineage herself. Passover (the celebration of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt) always squicks me, because it's based on traditions passed down from thousands of years ago that may have been rooted in misunderstanding! Just like this whole crazy name thing. Call him Set (because there's a supposed interview in which Takahashi says that Seto's name was based off that of the god, who, if you some research, was NOT a nice guy. Even compared to Death-T!minty-fresh!Kaiba) or call him Seto, but don't call him Seth. -_-; He's not Jewish.

Onward and upward.

I've decided to restart Project: Sailor V. Tokyopop/Mixx lost its right over Sailor Moon. Del Rey/Kodansha is showing no signs of picking up the manga release. Is Takeuchi still having issues with Toei? But that's an anime thing, not a manga thing. In any case, the Sailor V manga has never been properly, accurately, and nicely scanlated.

I don't like quitting on good ideas. I didn't really have the means, motivation, etc. to work on the manga before, but I sure as hell can now. I have PSCS, a good grasp of Japanese, and there are already textlations out there (by Alex Glover). Other projects include:

* getting ahold of the Infinity Artbook's 20 page parody manga, as it was never hosted on mahoushoujo.net, and of all the other places with the Infinity artbook, none of them seem to have it as well. I wish I could find a place that was selling the actual book; for once I would actually pay the astronomical price for it, even though it was never intended to garner a profit. But its rarity is what makes it worth the $300+ price tag. I'd also like to do "embedded" translations, a'la the Materials Collection, if that's possible, and translate what all the people wrote in the artbook.

* translating the Parallel Sailor Moon manga from the back of the Sailor Moon: Materials Collection artbook. It's already been scanned by Sailor Venus, but not translated. The materials collection has been partially translated at The Oracle, up to the Sailormoon S movie/Luna turns into a human arc. I'd like to finish what The Oracle didn't, and get the rest down. This includes liner notes from the back of the book.

* scanlate the Yu-Gi-Oh! Gospel of Truth character guide. False Memories hasn't scanlated this, and Jenniyah is about as unreliable as it gets when it comes to well-translated, available scanlations. I've already done bits and pieces here and there; if I had a team of fans to help me out with editing and translating, I could easily do the entire book. (This is less of a project_sailor_v thing and more of a Yu-Gi-Oh fan thing, but I'd hate to start a new Y!G for no reason. PSV could be considered my Scanlation Group! :P)

* Yu-Gi-Oh! R ... was already started by False Memories, and possibly another group (not sure), but they never finished the whole volume. Janime.info has summaries, but that's never enough! The reason why I like R! so much is for it having Anzu as the only one in danger, which adds to the tension and drama with her (and the other boys!). Kaiba also gets some good duels in. The problem is, it took me forever just to find Volume 1 in stores when I was in Japan, and the manga is serialized in a monthly Shonen Jump magazine called "V-Jump" which is just as impossible to find. If there were a way for me to find Vol. 2 (if/when it comes out), I'd say yes to this immediately...

Everything else
* Update the Animanga Collision eFiction installation
* Update Dragonfayth (and later, Animanga Collision's) mods
* Update the various skins; see if I can get WritingPlus from Calic0cat so I can make a speshul skin based off pgsm-fanfiction.net's silhouette skin, which I like oh-so-very-much!
* Link to all these amazing SM sites I've been finding lately
* Update or write some Sailormoon fic, because I wanna
* Write a guide for Sailor Moon: Another Story, because there don't seem to be any definitive sites for it anymore (with images, media, etc.)
* Remember the Midis: I used to love SM midis. I want them back! :O Was there ever a SM:AS midi site? I seem to remember so. I'd love that OST. I need more Sailormoon albums. I miss my Orgel Fantasia! ;_;
* Finish WDKY23 (it's almost done~!)

It's not goodbye, it's 'We'll see you soon!' ... and more weird dreams. )

HEY, MAMONO! ONLY 3 MORE MONTHS UNTIL YOUR BIRTHDAY! (thought I forgot, didn'tcha?)

Blurbs.

Dec. 15th, 2005 02:07 pm
azurite: (atemu's determined)

  • Couldn't sleep last night. Tried to read bad Christmas romance novels (historicals); didn't work. The cheese ate my brain.
  • Decided to watch PGSM instead, all the way through Special Act. Bawled my eyes out.
  • Realized that even in its new form, Sailormoon will always appeal to me, have special  meaning for me, and send out important messages to anyone who cares to listen.
  • Decided to smash together all my websites at long last and create an Animanga Collision eFiction archive for all of my fics save the Seto x Anzu ones, which will remain hosted at Dragonfayth. I'll still post at other places (FFnet, MMorg, Aria's Ink ...if I can ever figure out their whacked upload system... DeviantArt ...same thing... and ASMR), but at least now I'll have a place for my rants and essays, as well. It'll take some time to set up, though. For most of the animes/mangas/games I'm into, it'll also include information pages, character profiles, etc.
  • Dropped my iPod mini on the sidewalk as I was running across the street on my way home from school (to sell a book) today. It's dinked up to the point where it irritated me, so I bought a purple protective skin from DecalGirl.comhttp://www.decalgirl.com.
  • Finished a transfer of funds (gas money for/from [livejournal.com profile] cutieme4u --> Kysra) from PayPal; as I said before, we're almost at our goal and we only need a few more donations to get the scanner! It's doubtful I'll be able to ship it by Christmas unless I get funds from other people SOON!
  • Scored a job at the ITR University Help Desk... $8.05/hr for 20 hrs/wk., +/- 4 hours, if I want. Starts Jan. 9! Yahoo!
  • Mom might buy my laptop. :)
  • WILL MAKE IT TO JTAF! Keep your eyes peeled, gentlemen (and ladies-- er, [livejournal.com profile] hikaru_jan, you're not going...? ;_;! :D).
  • Need to check/download classes that I need to take; I register on the 19th, and if any of my planned classes are full, I need alternatives. I don't want to be sitting on SOLAR (Student On-Line Access Registration or something) for an hour searching classes. I'll bring the hard copy schedule with me just in case, but I want the course numbers ready to go, with my knowledge that I need the class, that I can take the class in accordance with my schedule, and that I'll like the professor.
  • Am tired now... despite needing to pack and such, my eyes are so sore from all that crying I did last night that I just need to sleep. If I can actually fall asleep, it'll be a good thing.
azurite: (usagi's got a gun)
Spoilers for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Episode 40. A WTF Moment. )

Speaking of the PGSM episodes in general, I burned them all to CD a long time ago. I never recall having to use the xVid codec, but I have it on my computer now... though for some stupid reason, xVids still won't play in DivX, despite having the codec. And in WinAmp and Media Player both, there are short bits of every episode (since about 32 onward) that get all blurry and pixellated. Anyone know what's up and how to fix this-- or is the file just corrupt?

Oh yeah, and Okami-san from Hana Yori Dango is Ikuko-mama! Why the heck didn't I notice it until now? (Rhetorical question: I was watching them out of sync, plus Ikuko-mama is a redhead, while Okami-san has black hair.) I LOVE this new Ikuko-mama! She and Okami-san are so BIZARRE! :D

Princess Sailor Moon = Princess of Mayhem. She takes the place of the original series' Sailor Saturn. Anyone that's watched the series up to this point doesn't need to guess why.

zOMG the youmas. )

Finally, wtf is up with Mio? I mean, I hate her, but... what/who is she?
azurite: (have written)
Okay, so I'm done watching Arabian Nights--always a good read. Lots of transcribing to be done. At least I filled up many pages of my journal with notes! And it occurred to me while I was watching that it doesn't just fit for an AUish sort of Sailormoon story (Lunar Nights), but also an AE-period continuation/revelation story.

Imagine this, if you will, your majesties... )

Also, the Arabian Nights made-for-TV movie only included 5 stories:
* Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
* The Murder of Jester Bakpak
* Aladdin
* A Pharaoh's Joke
* The Three Brothers
There are supposed to be several more (1001 total, I think). Some of the ones I've found:
* The Fisherman and the Genie
* The Old Man and the Hind
* The Old Man and the Black Dogs
* The Fisherman
* The Greek King
* The Husband and the Parrot
* The Vizier Who Was Punished...
etc. Anyone else remember some more? Of all the 1001 Arabian Nights, most are hero stories, but there are beautiful princesses, clever slave girls, and wicked queens, too. Any good Fairy Tales you'd like to recommend?

CONTEST!
Since I'm trying to get people to submit header images for Dragonfayth, I figure I might as well make a contest out of it. I'm looking for a colorful Seto x Anzu header image with the site name (Dragonfayth) and slogan (The Premiere Seto Kaiba x Anzu Mazaki Fanfiction Archive) on it. It should be around 600px wide at least.
I'm aiming for the header image to be used in a site like this one: http://www.pgsm-fanfiction.net/ (default skin is silhouette).
The winner will get to choose from one of the following:
* A commissioned piece of Seto x Anzu art from me (color)
* A commissioned fanfic (oneshot) of any het pairing or gen persuasion from the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom
* 15MB+ webspace on the seventh-star.net domain
* One volume of any Yu-Gi-Oh manga, English or Japanese (from the original series. Yu-Gi-Oh! R and the Gospel of Truth are incredibly hard to find, though).

GO FOR IT! (Oh, and do tell me if you're planning on entering. The winner will be determined by... originality, creativity, and extra special consideration will be given to people that request the CSS from me and alter the CSS to suit the image.)

Oh, yay for good news-- Dad finally called and it looks like that whenever I want to come back here (home) after Christmas, Dad and I (and possibly Kathleen, though I'm surprised he's still with her) are going to go to Palomar, where they have this GIANT astronomical observatory. ^^ It's been a while since I've done anything with Dad, and it sounds fun! And if Eva wants to go back before Dad does, Dad is willing to meet me down here, since he has to come and see Baba and Grandpa anyway.

Rawr.

Nov. 28th, 2005 11:44 pm
azurite: (I used to be indecisive...)
I am now the proud owner of a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Whoo! [livejournal.com profile] rhapsody_dragon, get ready to duel! My dragon deck is getting an official overhaul now, and I'm gonna pwn you! And I can't wait till next month, when I get Exchange of the Spirits and I can make either an Isis deck or an Egypt deck!

And I've also gotten into the Christmas spirit at last-- I suppose it makes sense, given that things are going pretty good, it's freezing cold, and I want presents. :P So I want everyone to point me in the direction of Seto x Anzu Christmas fics so I can make a post on [livejournal.com profile] setoanzulove and at Blue Eyes and Apricots. So far, I know of two submitted on [livejournal.com profile] yuugiouxmasfic:
* From Socks to Shoelace-tan
* From Mickle to Socks
But the second one isn't all that Christmas-themed...

What else? I might not have done 100% as well on my Japanese test this morning, but I did get my letters of recommendation for both Waseda and Tokiwa; I have to get Blumenkrantz's letter for Tokiwa, finish up my essays, have Hirota-sensei check them out before Dec. 8th, and then have them turned in and ready by then! ^_^v I'm getting all excited!

I think I did well on my mythology exam today, even though I missed 2 classes within the past week or so. But I guess I'm just well-versed in mythology, so I'm not too worried about missing much on the exams. They're always so easy...

I'm walkin' in a spider web... )

Another email exchange: [livejournal.com profile] smrffers might know about the people that dare to write sequels to the infamous Sexylyon's SEXY (of course) "Interlude" Usagi x Mamoru first season hentai. It was one of the best fics I've ever read (when I first read it), even if upon re-reading, some parts were purple enough to color my world. Nonetheless, even when people get permissions to write said sequels, taking the original author's so-called style and mocking it is enough to peeve me into next week. And when fangirl Japanese is thrown in? Ugh...

The fic: Togewonuku. The author: Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku. As if that doesn't tell you everything right there. )

I have the opportunity to go to Egypt next summer... whether or not the whole Japan Study Abroad thing pans out. I think it'd be a great opportunity to get additional travel in, though it does cost $2747, which is likely the bulk of my financial aid check for either Spring 2006 or Fall 2006. But it's only a $95 reservation, and if I really wanted to pull that off, I could, especially with some sucking up to my mom (^^;) Alas, the cost DOES NOT include:
* $570 room supplement if 23 years of age or you turn 23 before or during the tour (huh?)
* non-cruise lunches, beverages, and tips (estimated at $125 per person)
* private bus fee (depending on the size of the group, up to $145)
* CSUN tuition and fees (paid for, no worries there)
* mandated travel insurance and books (only applies to students earning 6 units of credit).

Well, of course I would want to earn the 6 units of credit; 3 from the Independent Study unit in Spring (would bring my total up to 18 units, just under my cap of 15. I don't know what the course would count for-- maybe upper division something-or-other?) and 3 from the tour in Summer.

Anyway, I have to think about tomorrow... er, a dialogue for memorization for Lesson 9 (memorize in the morning, like always), and possibly a critique to do for Creative Writing (which I can do during the break up in collaboratory; I can bring my laptop to work on my PowerPoint and Study Abroad essays as well, since it's an hour and a half long break... if/when I need to print, I can just email it to myself or something, unless Scott gives me back my flashcard by tomorrow).

Finally, sometimes after the insanity dies down this week (likely Thursday or later), I'm planning on:
* Updating WikiFic with more of Viz's insane translation (and other) errors from the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist volumes, plus Millennium World Vol. 1
* Making a winter-themed layout for whatever I feel like (BEA or Dragonfayth)
* Posting Girl's Club (Seto x Anzu; #11: gardenia) for [livejournal.com profile] 30kisses, along with the tentatively titled Red/Like A Virgin (#19: red).
* Making some more edits to WDKY22 and seeing if [livejournal.com profile] luvinaoshi and any other beta volunteers have anything to say about it...
azurite: (plotbunnied!)
Anyone who was a Sailor Moon + (practically any other fandom) fan has either written, read, or thought about reading or writing this: a sailormoon crossover. They're so popular they have their own subsection on the 'Net, whether your fancy is general, Dragonball-themed, or perhaps Gundam-ized.

Me? I happen to like the shoujo-series gone wild versions, like Ranma becoming a Senshi... or Akane! Been there, done that. It's harder to take series that have NO magic whatsoever and try and make them magical. Think series like Peach Girl or Hana Yori Dango. The drama comes from the "all-natural" scenes-- boy loves girl, girl loves another guy, guy loves another girl... and so on, and so forth.

So how would you take a romantic drama and make it magical? Add a pop star, a time-traveling bishie, and an insane author by the name of Azurite, of course! Not that I'll actually see this through to fruition, but here's my crazy idea, born of listening to Sailormoon music, thinking of random new fic ideas, and reading too much Hana Yori Dango (jdrama + 21 vols. of the manga in the past 4 days = O_O!!!).

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Seiya challenges Sailor Pluto to a one-on-one match. The other Outer Senshi find out and ask Pluto why she would agree to something so stupid, but she says that things must happen this way. Uranus and Neptune watch from the sidelines, and are shocked when Pluto is "defeated" and Seiya successfully steals a Time Key-- and goes back in time, to when Usagi and Mamoru broke up in Sailormoon R. If there was ever a time to find out about how true their love is, it's then. Little does Seiya know that Usagi's experiences (in the latter parts of R, then S and SuperS) matured her, and the Usagi he meets isn't quite the one he knows... plus, there's real-live Mamoru to deal with, and a mysterious pink-haired brat...

However, the two eventually get closer, and Seiya pushes Usagi not to depend on Mamoru (and thus, Sailor Moon won't depend on Tuxedo Mask) so much. Despite the warnings of the other Inner senshi and Luna, Usagi hangs out more and more with Seiya... and Sailor Moon meets Sailor Star Fighter. The two work together splendidly, but Makoto and Rei don't trust "her."

Seiya takes Usagi to a karaoke box (PGSM references?) one night and hears her sing-- much to his surprise, she's very good. He pushes her to try out for an audition, where he uses his own musical talents to help Usagi. The two of them get accepted, and suddenly, they're caught in a whirlwind of publicity and stardom!

After many months of hard work on the stage and in the recording room, Usagi's ready to have her first live show-- and life looks good. She thinks she's at last getting over Mamoru, and the battles with the Black Moon have lessened to the point where they're over before she even has to come and "save" anyone. She's sad that the Inners don't seem to need her anymore, but if they can't encourage her dreams the way she did for them, maybe they're better off apart. It's a different Usagi-outlook, but one well-developed and well-reasoned.

However, Usagi shows just how much she misses the girls when she auditions several girls for her dancers-- one of them Tsukushi Makino (there on a dare/a last resort?), who resembles Makoto Kino. Tsukushi passes the audition, and when payday finally comes, she decides that sticking as a dancer on the sly might pay better and help her avoid the drama with the F4... (this coincides with Vol. 19-20, when Tsukushi "breaks up" with Domyoji and then disappears. Instead of going to where her parents are, she stays with Yuuki and discovers a flyer about the auditions... Yuuki encourages her to go, and find a way to channel her spirit and energy.)

No one knows where Tsukushi's gone... that is, until the night of the show. In a futile attempt to cheer Tsukasa up/Tsukasa is forced to go by his sister/mother while entertaining a spoiled rich girl who is several years his junior, he goes to the concert-- and sees Tsukushi onstage, dancing! He tries to approach her after the concert, but security threatens to throw him out. Usagi speaks to Tsukushi, who skims over her "relationship" with Domyoji. Having experienced her fair share of heartbreak, Usagi decides to try and play matchmaker and allow Domyouji to see her.

But of course, fate intervenes when the girl that Domyoji is with is attacked by the Black Moon and turned into a droid. Usagi and Seiya run off to transform, but Tsukushi, still angry with Domyouji and the fact that he was with another girl (who is now pretty busty and angry-looking, in droid-form), pushes him out-- inadvertantly blasting the droid while she's at it. Something Usagi's "accidentally" done has awakened a dormant star seed in Tsukushi, and now she's a senshi!

At last, the Inners and Usagi are reunited (Seiya wonders if he should come clean to the others about being Star Fighter and why he's *really* there... does Usagi even know the whole truth?) when Luna senses the new senshi awakening. They all arrive on the scene to see "Sailor Eitoku" blast the snot out of the droid, Fighter keep her distracted, and Sailor Moon heal the girl, who falls unconscious.

Domyouji, who had his energy sapped, is slapped into wakefulness by Tsukushi "Sailor Eitoku" Makino, but he takes one look at her and immediately passes out again. Everyone retires to the temple/Usagi's new apartment/Seiya's place and discusses the new situation... and that's when Pluto appears.

^_^ Hee, evil, aren't I? Maybe I just want an excuse to have literal outside forces mush all my OTPs (and OT3s!) together!
azurite: (deadlines whoosh)
Okay... I'm kind of stuck. Remember those Asian-American Studies courses I mentioned-- AAS 210 (History of Asian Americans) and AAS 430 (Asian-American Pop Culture)? Well, I just came back from the Study Abroad informational session, and Hirota-sensei herself (aka department chair of the Japanese language program, one of my future professors, and a former department chair for the Study Abroad in Japan program) said that Asian-AMERICAN doesn't count for Study Abroad.

I remember there being two other courses-- HIST 400-something, but it was really late at night, and Hirota-sensei's class, which sounded cool, but maybe it was at a bad time, too. Well anyway, I might have to tweak my schedule to find out just what would work for Study Abroad, and HOPEFULLY get something to count for SOME GE/Minor/80-65 while I'm at it. Ah, alas! That AAS 430 class sounded cool!

It also turns out Hirota-sensei is willing to proofread my essays for Waseda and Tokiwa, so I think I'll touch those up and send them her way. Anyone else who's got a spare 20 minutes, I'd totally appreciate it if you could look them over! They're posted here in my LJ (tag: essays) and also in the [livejournal.com profile] writer_girls comm.

Last night I helped Scott out on ANOTHER photo shoot, because his teacher wanted him to be more specific about his focus and lighting. It took us about an hour before he found "the right lighting" and by the time we actually finished, it was after 12:30am! Even In-N-Out was closed, but since we were both hungry (is this starting to sound familiar yet?) we ended up going to Denny's. ^^ Scott then stayed over (!) because he was too tired to go home. :) Ah, good times... er, sort of. I'll have to elaborate on that later, though.

Oh, and I checked the poll results from that Only 16 poll I posted-- you people answered strangely! An uneven amount of people said they didn't read it vs. what they thought of it... o_O What's up with that? And I suppose I can't be disappointed by anyone's answers, because I intentionally set it up with extremes for choices. I didn't want to make it too confusing. In any case, I'm sorta-kinda inspired to work on it again, so we'll see. Betas are awfully hard to come by these days, but as long as the SMRFF exists, so does ANDI!!!! :O BWEAHAHAH! *cough*

Well, since I didn't get to bed until super-late last night (er, this morning), I had to BS my way through my Japanese test (I think I did well, except I forgot the word for change -as in money- which is "otsuri"). I finished up a short essay on reality TV for VComm, and now I'm going to start Story #6 for JOUR 210, which is due today. ^^; Before I go to VComm class in an hour, I also have to finish reading Ch. 14 on Television and Video... it's pretty cool so far! Did you know that reality TV has been around as long as TV has? And that there are *14* different types of reality shows? Wow.

Anyway, time to try and make sense of all these numbers... how do you calculate a percentage increase, again?
azurite: (usagi's got a gun)
[Poll #612673]

...If you want details, prod my brain and I might talk.
azurite: (butterfly_icons - Mai Nothing)
Let's just cut to the quick, mm? )

Sorry that these are coming along so slow... but time is hard to find now that I'm working so many hours this week! On top of that, I shouldn't have stayed up as late as I have... I have to be at work at 6:30am tomorrow! Eeya!

BTW-- can someone point me to or make me a few Sailor Moon icons? PGSM, preferably... but anime and manga work, too! I just need some SM spirit in my icon set, and I don't have too much time to make them myself! ;_; I'll make you an icon in return!
azurite: (ryouryou - fuck you pro anzu)
Once again, I bring you the differences between the Sailor Moon live action (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon) and the anime (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon - Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon). This time I hope to get through Act 5! Shall we get started?

This show is brought to you by Bandai, the same people that made toys for a bazillion other shows... )
azurite: (tresmoron - Anzu's Determined)
This special chapter of "Differences" will feature Act Zero, "The Birth of Sailor V!" Are you ready? Let's GO!

Act Zero! )
azurite: (the_sweet - I'm a Maiko!)
Along with my many other summer projects, I plan on working on Mare Serenitatis, my first, original, and probably my most comprehensive (and out-of-date) site-- for Sailor Moon. I actually had a new layout in the works featuring PGSM, but I never went anywhere with it. Now that I'm making it a point to watch all the episodes and specials, I hope I'll get more into Sailor Moon and PGSM again.

As people have done with the manga vs. the anime, here's my mini-guide on changes between the Sailor Moon anime and the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon live action show. I'll occasionally mention the manga, since that's what the ANIME was based on, and you can most definitely see its influence in the live action, but I'm trying to go in order (manga --> anime --> live action) here.

Starlight Prayers... )
azurite: (poor bi grrl gamers)
I know I said I wouldn't post updates about Blue Reflections in here, but all I'm saying is that I have fixed the error with the comment form, have added tons more people to my friends' blogs section, and have added a bunch of entries in the past week or so. I'll be adding more too, as is per usual with my end of the week hiatus, plus I have some songs itching to get posted.

AMC: I've been working steadfastly on getting Seven South up with its new layout; I still have to get all the sub-pages up and running, along with the synopses for the episodes. I just rented the 3rd OVA, so I'll be able to write about the complete series up till November, when Eikoden comes out! Yay!
I have tons of other pages to add, and I'm drawing a blank for a layout for "Learning Software," my Chobits page. I really don't want to use someone else's layout, and at this point, looking for templates and ideas is becoming frustrating. LS may be a while in the making due to this. I'm also skipping around watching the episodes... I watched through 17 yesterday, but still haven't seen 12-14. I'll post episode summaries and MP3s as I get ahold of them.

In case you didn't know before, I have added the once-separate Maboroshi Tsuki to the AMC Network. Since I put it off for so long, it's one of my priorities to get up and running, mostly with fanfiction and synopses.

MS: It's in desperate need of a new, fall-layout, so look for that soon. I have tons of potential ideas, and since it's Sailormoon, I'm in no need of images! I'm still looking to simplify a lot of the sections so navigating to find what you want isn't such a pain, but I want to keep the comprehensiveness I have had for the past several years. I most definitely want to get up MSRARR up and running, not to mention the Webstuff collection. Viva Forever is now integrated within MS, so finding Site Features should be a snap... once I get them uploaded. It'll take time, between school (haha) and my "social events" every Thursday and Friday, but I know I can do it! ^^ Also, feel free to send in your favorite links, submissions for art or fiction, reviews, rants... whatever!

BLA: Blacklight Arcade is the newest addition to the azurite.rosedreams.org domain (which needs a name, by the way, even if it is just a turnpike to all my other pages... any ideas?) I plan on putting my "______ for beginners" game guides there, along with links to walkthroughs, cheats, and other great resources that took me forever to find and helped me out a lot. Of course, I'll also be posting fanfiction, and quite possibly fanart there, once I start posting it! My DDR fic ("Goodbye, Hello, Who Are You?"), already posted on fanfiction.net, will be posted there.

Okay, that's it for now... hopefully be back soon with the Photojournal, Guides, and more REAL updates...

2009 ETA: It's worth mentioning that the majority of the sites mentioned/linked above are now defunct, but will be reappearing somewhere on my current domain, Seventh-Star.net someday in the hopefully not-too-distant future.
azurite: (Default)
This topic I could rant about for hours...

Yes, respect. A big deal. Elders wants respect from the youth of today. Kids want respect from adults. Teens want respect from each other.

Yet as I walk down the street, in the school's halls, or am sitting on the bus going somewhere, I hear people calling their friends "Nigga" or "Gay-ass".

The majority of this rant is focused on the latter-- actually, it was started by some folks at one of my newsgroups, alt.binaries.pictures.sailor-moon. Very intelligent people there.

Here's the deal-- someone at Amazon.com said the following:
Reviewer: A viewer
"I love Sailor Moon as well. My young daughters love it as well. The Sailor Moon S series is a very good series. The only reason I have given this 4 stars instead of 5 is because personally I like the earlier Sailor Moon episodes better. I am mainly writing this to respond to all those "fans" who are upset that they leave out the fact that Amara and Michelle are lesbians. HELLO! Cartoon Network aims its programs at young children. Most parents of young children prefer NOT to have homosexuality thrown at their young children. It is something that parents prefer to discuss with their children when they are old enough. So please stop dissing the TV versions of Sailor Moon simply because they leave out the lesbian factor. It is hardly the most important part of the series. It adds nothing to the show to have it in there. Remember these are CHILDREN for the most part watching!!! The Sailor Moon S series is still quite good without the extras. I applaud Cartoon Network for not wanting to rub an issue in the faces of young children that they are not ready or prepared to understand yet."


Ahem. WHAT THE HECK!? I mean, if you aren't an avid Sailormoon fan like I am, this will make no sense to you whatsoever, but the gist of it is, this company trashed a storyline, and the romances within it. Why is it that the United States (and I'm guessing Canada as well) have to have butchered versions of TV shows just because they feature lesbians or gays? Are other country's children more "mature" and "accepting" of this issue about sexuality? I can tell people who don't know that SM is not a kiddie show, and is NOT a cartoon. I could go in-depth about the religious factors, the messages being sent... but this is about relationships.

I'm in a city where lesbians and gays are run-of-the-mill, and nobody could care less. Yet in this state, same sex marriages are illegal. Hah, talk about hypocrisy. Even my school has gay-straight alliances, and clubs to help people better understand the whole sexuality issue. But it's not such a bad, or weird thing. Why do people have such a hard time accepting differences and preferences in sexuality, but not in race? Or gender?
Several of the people on ABPSM thought this person was more than a few light bulbs short of a chandelier-- the lesbians weren't extras... neither were the homosexual men in the first season. But the lesbians were made into cousins (which kind of screws up the whole sacrifice for each other thing) and one of the homosexual males was made into a very annoying, flat-chested female.

Cartoon Network does NOT aim their shows at kids. If they did, then why would they have Sailormoon backed by shows with war, love affairs, and blood, guts, and gore in them? Shows like Gundam (even dubbed, still pretty controversial to some) and Tenchi... welcome to the 21st century, people!!

Gays, and lesbians are people too, and, I will admit, I am guilty of using derogatory terms like 'gay-ass' but I never, ever meant it in the sense of a person being homosexual as a bad thing. I rarely say it anymore. I wish people would just grow up, and realize that religion, or fear of something or someone isn't a fallback, scapegoat excuse for immature behavior like the person's above.

January 2016

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