Only One Act

I sure have neglected this journal lately. WHOOPS. And right after I added a bunch of people...Sorry about that!

Real life is going well. The job search has not ended in a job, yet, but I've been chugging along steadily (for once!) and I feel pretty good about my prospects and all that. So that's cool. It's also pretty boring to talk about after the fact so that's about it on the real life front.

Anyway! Anime Boston is only a week away and OH MY GOD I'M SO UNPREPARED. Well, financially I'm set to go and I have transportation worked out for Friday and Saturday; I'm not staying in a hotel for the weekend, although now I kinda wish I'd worked something out for Saturday night. It's too late to do much about that, though.

I've been waffling over cosplay ideas. I've been working on an Arakune costume since, like, Halloween, but I have the worst crafting skills ever so said costume has never advanced much beyond the 'black robe with mask' stage. I've tried a couple of things to create suitably boney limbs but all of my attempts have ended up looking stupid, been difficult to attach properly, or both. :C I've also made some bug props which are kinda cute/gross, and while I like them a lot I don't know how I'll go about displaying them. Like, I could try holding them but I can only hold one in each hand and I have um, five. I thought about gluing them to the costume but that would probably...not work that well, plus it would look weird. Maybe I will just keep them in a bag and take them out for pictures or something? Throw them at any other Blazblue cosplayers? (They would be thrown in a loving manner, of course. :P ) I dunno.

Have also been working on a Maetel outfit from Space Symphony Maetel. The dress is done but it's off-color (I checked every single fabric store in my area for something with that shade of red/pink/whatever and I couldn't find one and now it's totally wrong and ugh) and I still need to find a bunch of other things for it: a wig, black boots, hat, colored contacts, and maaaaaybe fake eyelashes to mimic Leji Matsumoto's art style, I dunno. I'm not entirely committed to doing this one yet for a whole bunch of reasons, but given that the major part is technically done...man, I just don't know. I'd like to do it, but I also don't want to do it...badly? Whatever.

I'm going into Boston for the Japan Festival today, but hopefully I'll be able to pick up some costuming things that I haven't found locally. If that goes well I probably will go as Maetel on Friday, but if it doesn't, there's always next year. Or the smaller conventions that happen in New England. Or whatever.

ganked this from hamimi_fk:

I know very little about some of the people on my friends list. Some people I know relatively well. But here’s a thought: why not take this opportunity to tell me a little something about yourself. Any old thing at all. Just so the next time I see your name I can say: “Ah, there’s Parker… she likes money and cereal.” I’d love it if everyone who’s friended me did this. (Yes, even you people who I know really well.) Then post this in your own journal. In return, ask me anything you’d like to know about me and I’ll give you an answer.

:)

I got Borderlands 2 for Christmas and oh god it has eaten my life. I would probably be playing it right now, in fact, if I hadn't been stupid and gotten both of my characters (an Assassin and a Siren) stuck at different bosses--I can't solo them, so now I have to wait for friends to get on to help me out. Well, I could make my game public and see if random people join, but the general populace of Xbox Live is absolutely horrible and I'd rather not taint my gaming sessions with unnecessary misogyny and overall asshattery.

Also got Threatrhythm Final Fantasy, which is not quite as addicting but very cute. I'm also quite pleased with the music selection, although I wish they'd included a few more FFX tracks. The game includes 'To Zanarkand,' 'Mi'hen Highroad,' 'Fight with Seymour,' and both the regular and orchestral versions of Suteki Da Ne, but nothing else. Personally I would have picked 'Sprouting' (the Moonflow theme) over Mi'hen Highroad, and just about any battle theme over the Seymour one, but OH WELL. At least Sprouting is a downloadable track. (Also: 'Challenge,' the music from the Yunalesca battle which I hate with a raging passion. The music, not the battle. Well, okay, I guess I hate both, because the Yunalesca fight was the worst.)

Anyway, it's a pretty enjoyable rhythm game, although I don't think it's worth the full $40 retail price. It's a good thing I got it as a present because it's short and while the song list is sizable it's still small enough to get repetitive if you play for longer than like...half an hour. It's especially repetitive in the Chaos Shrine mode, which generates random songs with variable note patterns--after a few games the song list starts repeating. A LOT. I swear, if I get another note with Blue Fields, I'll cry.

Apropos of nothing, I like having Lightning and Squall in my party because they are utterly humorless and it is amusing to see run around and smack monsters in an adorable fashion while keeping up their ~too cool to care~ attitudes. Your teenage angst is trumped by cutesy character designs, kiddos. :p

In real life news, there is a lot of drama occurring in the house this week. But since it is still in-progress I am having trouble sorting out my thoughts on the matter. I may post about it later, but maybe not. (Vague update is vague.)

Resident Evil 6 added a bunch of new content this month. One of the new modes is a versus game called 'Onslaught.' It's like...Mercenaries mode crossed with Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon. You and your opponent run around a map killing zombies, trying to keep a combo chain going, but when your chain drops you send the number of zombies you killed over to your opponent's map. If your combo chain hits 30, you automatically dump 30 zombies on your opponent and your combo resets. The first person who dies loses. :P I haven't played it much, but it's pretty fun.

It also has some weird background music.

( Cut for video )

On the subject of music, I have not yet heard the ungodly awful Christmas Shoes anywhere so far. Of course, by saying that I've probably ruined everything and it'll be on repeat at my mom's Christmas party tomorrow or something equally horrible.

So, occasionally I buy from Play-Asia. Which means that, every now and then, they send me an email informing me of new products that may be relevant to my interests. Today I was notified of a game called Love Tore: Mint. The title wasn't exactly informative, but Play-Asia thoughtfully supplied a description:

In Mint, the sequel to Sweet, you are faced with a new problem. The school wants you to win the national dance championship. The girls are not used to discipli...

My initial reaction: THIS IS A HENTAI GAME ISN'T IT WHY IS IT BEING RELEASED ON THE 360 AND ALSO WHY DOES PLAY ASIA THINK I AM INTERESTED IN IT :(

however! clicking to the Play-Asia site showed that Love Tore: Mint is just a Kinect exercise/dance game with a story mode. The 'discipline' that set off the hentai alarms is actually 'disciplined practice. Phew! The summary also indicated that this fluffy-looking game was in fact a tragedy, since the girl you want to dance with doesn't want to dance with you oh no!!11!!! and you have to crush your dreams by dancing with, gasp, some other girl you don't like as much at the state championship. Anyway, since I have bought a number of dance games and 360 games, the recommendation made a bit more sense. A dancing/bishojo game hybrid would not be the worst thing I have played by choice.

And then I watched the trailer and things got uncomfortable again. Because Love Tore (actually, the official name is Love*Tra, for, um, 'Love Training') is not particularly concerned with dance routines and catchy music; it's far more interested in letting you focus the camera on inappropriate areas and pretending to slow dance with virtual ladies. And here I was, hoping that it would be like Dance Dance Revolution but with lots more hilariously overwrought melodrama. Alas, the basement creeper demographic wins again. :c

And that's the story of today's email notifications. I know, I know, mine is a life of never-ending excitement.

that's a clumsy title, isn't it?

So! Here is a list of all the stockings at fandom_stocking that include anime, manga, kdrama/jdrama and/or video game fandoms. I hope this list will help people discover stockings that they might have passed over. :]

Please let me know if:

-Your stocking has an anime/manga/k-or-jdrama/video game fandom, and isn't listed here
-Your stocking is listed but is missing an anime/manga/k-or-jdrama/game fandom
-Anything that needs fixing (broken links, spelling, etc.)

Also, as many of these fandoms are tiny, feel free to recommend/promote/squee about your fandoms in the comments! (Because really, I haven't seen or played a lot of these titles but they sound fascinating.)

( The list! )

I've been thinking about signing up at inkingitout this year. I'm pretty terrible at completing any sort of challenge, especially if it involves writing, but finishing National Blog Posting Month has given me some confidence in my ability to blather away in a semi-intelligent manner about things that interest me. I wasn't able to write about everything I wanted to last month, and part of that was due to putting up an entry every single day, oddly enough. There were a lot of times when I abandoned a post because it kept growing in size and I didn't have the ability to write about everything I wanted to. Having a word count goal instead of a daily post one might be a better fit for me.

That said, I'm not sure what I'd sign up to do. I mean, I guess essay/review-ish stuff about things I'm watching/playing/reading, but reviews and essays imply some level of objectivity and coherence, not OMG FEEEEEEEEEEEELS which is about the level that I write at. :P Of course, signing up for a challenge would be a pretty good incentive to approach and write about media in a more thoughtful manner than I do now.

I might also put 'fanfic' in the hopes of one year actually finishing a fandom bingo challenge because. Um. I've yet to do that ever. I am the least productive fan person. :[

In more things I keep thinking about doing, but never get around to: I reeeeeally want to try making a Let's Play for some of the Xbox-exclusive shmups. Specifically I'm thinking of Trouble Witches Neo because...well, I like it a lot and would like an excuse to play it some more. :P There are technically two Trouble Witches Neo LPs on youtube already, but...they are kind of terrible. Like, they're both blind playthroughs, it's obvious that the players have little/no experience with the genre, and the commentary is mostly forced humor that boils down to 'Japan has a thing for cute little girls, HUH?!?!' and just, ugh. I really hate LPs that are made solely because the person making them wants to make a name for themselves and picks an obscure game to play because no one else has done it. Unfortunately, while I have recording equipment, it only has composite inputs, so anything it records looks terrible. (I've recorded a few videos, but the results aren't very watchable. ;_; ) And a screenshot LP isn't much of an option for a shmup. Sigh. I might look into getting some better recording stuff after the holidays, if my finances aren't too strained.

Aaaaand as far as fandom_stocking goes, I have made a list of all stockings with anime/manga/gaming requests but I'm still formatting it; it should be done by the weekend for anyone who'd find it useful.

So fandom_stocking is a thing that is happening on Dreamwidth RIGHT NOW. Basically it is like Yuletide, but only the Yuletide treats part--you leave a fandom wishlist at this post, it's posted as a 'stocking' in the comm, and then people make/give you things based on your wishlist. Even if you don't want to leave a wishlist for yourself, there are a lot of lists already up so if you're looking for something to do you should check it out, maybe?

***
In order to make this post more than just a signal boost, here are some perplexing things from the internets.

First is this image. It's from Konami's Beatmania DJ simulation game. I have no idea what music video features this particular picture, but I'm dying to find out.

( what a mean banana :( )

Next is a Beatmania IIDX video parody thing. Ronald McDonald is prominently featured.

( Beach Side Bunny Burger )

Finally, seeing as it's December and the holiday season is upon us, now is as good a time as any to bust out my favorite 'cooking' videos of all time: Sandra Lee's Hanukkah and Kwanzaa cakes. If you aren't acquainted with Sandra Lee and her semi-homemade aesthetic, well...I'm sorry. And if you do know who Sandra Lee, but haven't seen these clips? Well...sorry for that too, because even for a woman who is most famous for making liquor-heavy cocktails for lunch and coining the phrase 'tablescape', this is some hideous work. I've posted these before, but ever since discovering these crimes against taste I have made a point of sharing them again when seasonally appropriate, for they never cease to shock me.

( Cultural ignorance ahoy! )

I hope something in that pile of random was entertaining. ^^

The 30 days music meme got me thinking about Serial Experiments Lain again. I was reading through the Wikipedia article to brush up on the plot and while it wasn't especially helpful in that regard, (I still have no idea what the purpose of the K.I.D.S./Cyberia...stuff...was?) it did make me think about some other things.

First, the whole idea the creator had wrt American vs. Japanese audience interpretations...look, I admire his desire to create something with 'distinctly Japanese values' and reject American concepts that were imposed upon Japanese people after WWII. But...the philosophical concepts and technology theories presented in Lain are almost entirely Western in origin, and they aren't presented in a way that challenges their assertions on any level. When you invoke Western ideas without re-interpreting or challenging them, it seems rather naive to assume that an American audience will draw different conclusions from a Japanese audience.

I think Ghost in the Shell (the movies, in particular) is a series that generates different audience reactions more successfully than Lain, and that wasn't even a concern of the creators. (At least, I don't think it was a concern?) American audiences don't interpret the ending of the GiTS movie differently, per se, but the majority of the reviews and analysis miss the very obvious Buddhist underpinnings--I've only read one review that mentions how one of the last scenes with the Puppeteer and Motoko is supposed to be read as a Buddhist wedding/a symbol of Buddhist ideals of transcendence, for example. And I suspect the critical response to Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, which was fairly negative, was partially due to people being unfamiliar with Buddhist/Zen concepts and thus found the movie's philosophical musings as confusing. (Or worse, nonsensical--I do think Innocence was heavy-handed and clumsy in plotting and dialog, but the ideas it was trying to convey aren't nonsense, and I think it's really patronizing that some American critics have called it that.)

...wow, that was some tangent.

Secondly, even though I don't remember much about Lain's plot, I always enjoyed the initial hook, that Lain is just going through her lonely life until a dead person contacts her through the internet Wired. The idea of people dying in the material world and manifesting in the internet is one I really enjoy, and I wish I knew of more books/shows/movies that explore the concept. I've seen Kairo and Pulse (Kairo was pretty good, Pulse was not) a little bit of the .hack series, and pretty much everything connected to Ghost in the Shell--is there any other stuff that people have seen, in any media, that's concerned with people living in the internet, or sentient creations trying to contact/become people in the material world? I'd be interested in seeing it.

I spent most of today cleaning the house. On one hand, I'm pretty proud of the newly-shiny kitchen counter and empty sink. On the other hand, there is still a lot of work to be done and ugh i don't want to dooooooooooo eeeeeeeeeet tomorrow. /whine

I finished the kitchen a lot later than I expected (partially because I got distracted by silly interwebs things, whoops) so today's entry is going to be pretty short. Thank goodness for the 30 Days music meme that I still haven't finished! :P

( day 28: a song that makes you feel guilty: Kiri no Ijigen by Nakaido Reichi )

( day 29: a song from your childhood: Truly Outrageous by Jem and The Holograms )

( the rest of the meme )