(no subject)

[tj_dragonblade]

Jeff has of course been taking pics and video of the baby at home, and over the weekend he showed me the footage he caught of Octavian jamming to Rammstein. ♥ He reportedly likes Rammstein and other such metal, but doesn't like rap. ^_^ I wonder how much bearing my own musical choices during pregnancy have on his exhibited 'tastes'.

I so wish I could afford to stay home with him until at least his first birthday. T_T

Oh, and, still unposted from that meme awhile back where one comments with some catch-phrase to solicit questions from the poster, then answers those questions in their own journal:

Questions from entitys:

1. What is your favorite painting and/or sculpture?
Hmm. Never thought a whole lot about it. I've seen various re-creations of classical art and statuary that I'd say appeal to me, but it's not like I can bring any specifics or titles to mind. Umh, on a more contemporary note, Luis Royo has some stuff that I really like, not that I know their titles. Ciruelo's dragon art - I certainly don't like every piece I've seen, but the ones I do like I tend to really like; 'Dark Dsurion' is something of a favorite. Pretty sure this isn't what you meant by 'sculpture', but I do like it nonetheless. :p

2. What name would you have chosen for yourself and why?
Nnh. Well, as a kid I recall wishing that I'd been named all kinds of things that I thought sounded 'prettier' at the time - I think Samantha and Patricia and Melissa topped the list at different points - but by now I don't much like any of those, and it's rather difficult to imagine being called anything besides what I've always been called anyway. I guess TJ maybe counts, since it is pretty much a name-variant I gave myself? I like it online for its brevity and its gender ambiguity, if ever such a thing might come in handy.

3. Which discontinued cartoon from your childhood do you wish was still on TV today?
Hmm. I kind of want to say Thundercats, since I was really into it back in 3rd and 4th grade, but at the same time I've seen it much more recently and gone 'My god, this was awful!' with much nostalgic laughter so who knows if I'd feel the same had it continued on, y'know? Other things I loved as a kid/teenager - GI Joe, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, XMen - have been rebooted into new series several times as I've grown up, so again - I've seen the evolution things take over time, and most times I tend to lament the changes from what I loved earlier. Oh! I know - teenage years still count as childhood, in my book, so I'll go with Disney's Gargoyles. There was a lot about that series that I liked, and it would really be cool (hopefully) to see where some of the story threads might have wound up going longer-term.

4. Which female celebrity would you say is attractive and what makes you think so?
Gina Torres has always caught my eye, ever since she showed up on Hercules back in the day. I can't really pin down a 'why'; I guess it's just the way that all her features work together? Possibly her prominent lips have some bearing on it. I really loved her character on Firefly, also, and I sometimes wonder how much of my attraction is tied up in that role as opposed to her physical appearance alone. But she's plain damn gorgeous, regardless. ^_^ Rachel Maddow has a certain sort of gender-fluid, semi-andrognynous appeal that I find very sexy, especially when she's got that little smirk where the one corner of her mouth quirks up and her eyes are full of snarky mirth. ♥ Going for big-name celebrities, most of the 'hotties' that Hollywood touts don't do anything for me personally, but Angelina Jolie is the notable exception to that rule. I can't really pin down any specific whys, again - something about the way her face is put together is just very appealing, and she has lovely curves. ^_^; Also, again with the prominent lips possibly having some influence on the opinion.

Comments

[entitys.livejournal.com]

1. i like royo too. and of course it counts (smirk)
2. wow. not what i was expecting.
3. we share a brain on Gargoyles. i also want The Pirates of Dark Water back.
4. E completely agreed with you up until that last one. after that he promptly began puking up the excellent dinner i made him. there is no accounting for taste sometimes, but to each their own.

glad to see you live, Sis. if i could finance your staying home i would.

[tj-dragonblade.livejournal.com]

1. Gaara-statue is quite lovely, yes, even if he does look slightly out-of-place on my shelf next to the Saiyuki boys who are on a slightly different scale.

On a continued Naru-note, I'm very nearly caught up to the licensed releases (I'm in the middle of 45, have 46, and still need to buy 47/48). Once I get through those I will hopefully find the time to catch up online and keep up with current chapters, assuming there's still a site that serves that purpose - I know there've been crackdowns in recent months. Sasuke's still an ass, but he definitely works better as a villain; he itotally gets points for actually (finally) offing Orochimaru though I suspect that somehow he'll make an appearance again down the road. I almost like Itachi now, or I at least don't dislike him anymore, though there's still no love for the Uchiha clan in general. I'm very fond of Sai. ♥ Hope he gets more focus/development as the story goes on. Killer Bee...I headdesk at the stereotype, on the one hand, but I think I could like him regardless. It helps that there are other dark-skinned characters from his village who don't speak in rap and tag 'fool' onto either end of their sentences.

Also, I've managed to make some progress on that Naru-Neji ficlet that you'd requested like a year and a half ago on that one meme-thingy I did. No telling when it'll be done, though. ^_^; Dammit, I owe you beta for the Wish chapter sent in April, too; haven't forgotten. >_<

2. I'm rather curious now as to what you might have expected, if anything specific. When I said 'gender ambiguity', also, I think the concept I was really going for is gender anonymity in the interest of total anonymity when needed.

3. OMG Pirates of Darkwater, YES. *_* I completely forgot about that. It came along pretty late in my 'childhood', but I thought it was awesomely unique and would love to revisit it now. All the little fantasy-world-building stuff was so cool, and it was different than anything else I'd seen before (or since, though A:tLA invokes a similar vein of appreciation).

4. My apologies for the wasted dinner, then. I've been told on multiple occasions that I *have* no taste, though, so make of that what you will. ^_^;

[entitys.livejournal.com]

1. yeah. crackdowns. dammit'all. been doing my own webcomic thing these last couple months and wasn't really paying attention, but when i actually went back to my usual viewing site, i've found they've removed all links. grr. now i really have to dig.

and, random tangent, i don't see what the big deal is anyway. i screen manga before i get into my car, somehow survive traffic to drive to the bookstore, and buy the paperback version. just like, i screen movies to make sure their appropriate, before i spend $50 bucks to take my nephews to see it in the theatre. if you don't buy clothes without trying them on first, why on earth would you treat your media any differently? especially when it's so damn expensive. end random tangent.

and back on topic, um, no. Sasuke didn't off Orochimaru so you can take those points back. Itachi gets rid of Orochimaru. and i am really hoping you are that far along, if not i am truly sorry for the spoiler but i had to set the record straight. sasuke already gets too much credit for crap he doesn't do. Sai. i really like him too, but in general he gets cameo appearances after his storyline is over. kinda sucks for him. and then there's the stereotypes. *sigh* as a mostly Black male i take offense, but at the same time i'm kinda grateful that non-Black artists all over the planet are beginning to realize there are other than White people in the world. and then i think hey, if M. Night Shyamalan ever gets the rights to make a Naruto movie, he'll just make all brown-skinned characters white anyway, so all's well. please to forgive my sarcasm.

ficlet: well, i'm in no hurry on that. Wish, well, i wanted to write more for nanowrimo anyway, so a cursory glance and a few pointers would be nice, but no rush. i understand that you're busy.

2. its not that had any real idea of what you'd call yourself. in my experience the Melissa's and Samantha's of the world tend to be morons. you strike me as an intelligent person so it was just unexpected that you'd want a vapid name like that. (my apologies to any smart Melissa's or Samantha's in your acquaintance). i do understand gender ambiguity. my favorite cousin has a stereotypical Black female name. and it kills her that when people hear he name they can't reconcile, her face, her mannerisms, her intelligence, or her dignity with her name. if ever a name didn't fit, this is it. so she uses a ambiguous name instead of her own. i was actually talking to her when i posed that question to you.

3. i recently acquired those episodes. and i was watching, and i was like, "holy crap, the cartoons i grew up on, really weren't meant for children. wow. looking at it now, i can see the innuendo, i can see where they edited the foul language out. i understand why my dad was cool with watching saturday morning cartoons with us, while he wouldn't do that with little brother (born 7 years after me). and A:tLA is one of the cartoons i sat my father down to watch after he saw the movie adaptation. i told him the movie wasn't on par with the cartoon so i had to prove it.

side note: Dante Basco was turned down for the role of Zukko. how do you turn down the VOICE of Zukko for Zukko in the movie? wtf is the world coming to when Rufio is turned away?

4. s'ok. he's mostly over it now and he offered this assessment though i told him taste is subjective and varies from person to person (thank God).

"Gina Torres, that's a fine woman right there, i agree. her lips look natural, full, juicy, healthy, and like they belong on her face. Angelina Jolie has had cosmetic surgery done to look the way she does (apparently that's like right of passage in Hollywood but, my opinion - no great improvement there.) anyhow, her lips look like an ongoing allergic reaction is causing them to swell in unsightly, infected clumps. like a bad collagen injection or something."

sorry. wrote a novella.

[tj-dragonblade.livejournal.com]

Heh. Speaking of novellas...

Re: The random tangent: Exactly. Exactly. Just like I find all kinds of music online that I will then go and buy that I would never know about if not for illegal sharing or un-permissioned use in somebody's fanvid. But I guess that there are too many people (or the industries fear there are too many people) who stop at the 'free' point and either can't ('cause it really is expensive, dammit) or don't spend the money in support of the artist.

Re: Sasuke, Itachi and Orochi: I'll have to go re-read more carefully, then; I'm pretty sure I understand what you mean but I was marathoning several volumes in a short amount of time in between all the New Baby stuff and obviously didn't absorb it properly the first time around. Currently I'm somewhere in the middle of Pein attacking Konoha, Killer Bee's village gearing up to 'rescue' him while Akatsuki apparently captured a fake(?), and Danzou just killed the messenger toad that was supposed to fetch Naruto back from training to use Sage Mode. Also, I'm not terribly anal about spoilers - knowing that Asuma and Jiraiya were going to die, for instance, was helpful in that I was prepared for it when it happened. There have been other series where the suprise death of a character I was very fond of soured me on the whole thing - I still haven't bothered to finish Death Note, and FMA needs to be revisited in some form at some point to be given a fair shot.

Re: Stereotypes: Gah. Black characters are very sparse to begin with in anime, and when they're included all too often it's entirely lamentable - DBZ in particular made me cringe. And there's a minor character in one of the newer Gundam series--I think it's 00--who...ergh. In the dub he was voiced by the guy who dubbed Duo, and it was painfully obvious that he was a white guy trying to do a stereotypical 'black' 'street' voice. Which was even more cringe-worthy in that it felt really OOC for the character. Hard to tell sometimes, too, how much is due to original content and how much is due to translation/interpretation. I would be curious to read a fan-translation of Killer Bee to see how it compares to the Viz version.

On a side-note, the Viz translations really bug me in some aspects - I'm so used to the translations/terms used in the anime dub and in fandom that running up against 'Master Kakashi' and 'shadow doppelgangers' and 'Art of the Centerfold' and 'the Foundation' is annoyingly off-key. Y'know? I think manga and anime dubs in general tend to over-translate a lot; most times I'd much rather read/hear a so-and-so-san than a mr. so-and-so, for example, especially when the primary cultural tone of the series is Japanese or otherwise Asian and not global or western.

but at the same time i'm kinda grateful that non-Black artists all over the planet are beginning to realize there are other than White people in the world

More people need to realize this. It would help make the world a better place. It's staggering how white-oriented American society really is, not that I'm one to talk. The whole racebending issue has been very instrumental in widening my perception and helping me see more clearly past the haze of white privilege that I didn't really realize was there before it was pointed out.

[entitys.livejournal.com]

Re:Re: Uchiha's vs Orochimaru - no, i will say Sasuke umm, helped contain Orochimaru, but he didn't, and couldn't kill him because of all the experiments Orochimaru did on him to make Sasuke another container for Orochimaru. when Sasuke took on Itachi -- Itachi, knowing that he was going to sacrifice himself for Sasuke's peace of mind -- beat Sasuke down enough for Orochimaru's remnants to emerge, and then he completely eradicated it so that his brother could live free of the snake's taint. grr. i grudgingly give partial credit. as far as reading, i am maybe two volumes ahead of you, but i am yet to find a place to obtain the latest. (admittedly, haven't been looking very hard). Death Note = disappointing. i quit reading too. FMA = try the Brotherhood version. it follows the manga -- though Hughes still dies, regrettably -- but i still loved it.

Re: Re: Stereotypes - yeah, exactly. i think i ended up watching Shoujo Kakumei Utena simply because one of the main characters was Black. and attractively drawn. and it blew me away. i mean, that one artist stayed true to her style. no matter the ethnicity she drew, she didn't -- how to say this . . . i'll be blunt -- she didn't draw Black people like we are inferior. no over-exaggerated features. Black people were in charge. the Black girl was the ultimate prize. its kinda a girly show, not one that would have been in my repertoire, but at the time, my young brain latched on, and i've just now been able to put into words why i liked it.

Voice acting: with the exception of A:tLA, American VA's make me sad on a good day. its like, they don't understand that they are bringing a character to life through acting. the only difference is, their voice is what's seen. sometimes, established VA's just don't have the right look and it does screw up the character.

Side Note: Viz, is particularly bad when it comes to VA's and translations. its almost like they forget that their audience happens to be fans. we don't need a technical translation, which is why we -- I -- deliberately choose a fan's perspective. i noticed that people who choose a thing as a hobby tend to be better than when they who choose it as a job.

Privilege: recently had a discussion with one of my White friends on why the president gets so much crap. not discussing politics, not slandering, just saying from my Black male been followed around stores, been pulled over for DWB, been called the N-word before i was 10, and, lately, accused of stealing my own car perspective, that the average White person in America has an unfortunate superiority complex that is further marinated in complacency. and when a mostly Black man was elected president they had to wake up and realize there are other than White people in the world and in America (gasp!). a lot of them. and the only way WhiteAmerica can see to regain superiority so that this never happens again is to deny anything the president proposes, discredit him, and all-around make him look ineffectual.

what kills me here is that any 5th grader can tell you that America was founded on the principle that one person is not allowed to have full control of this land. that the president doesn't make decisions: primarily rich, privileged, White Congress does.

i guess what bothers me the most is that i don't understand the complex. my friend suggested that its because White people don't really have their own culture and the only way to make up for that is to conquer and sneer at everyone who does.

[tj-dragonblade.livejournal.com]

hey, if M. Night Shyamalan ever gets the rights to make a Naruto movie, he'll just make all brown-skinned characters white anyway, so all's well

ILU. ♥ XD

I will never see Shyamalan's version of A:tLA, unless it's randomly in bits and pieces while surfing cable channels the way I 'saw' the DBZ movie. A:tLA is such an awesome series, and that movie has so completely missed all the things that made it awesome. Having a non-white cast in a show aimed at the general broad-spectrum audience is almost unheard of in American media, and stripping that out of the movie adaptation is just disappointing on so many levels. I mean, when they take Rathbone and Peltz and stick them in a village full of ethnically-accurate Water Tribe extras, how do they not see how wrong it is?? Gah. The whole racebending thing makes me so frustrated, especially all the arguments coming from the people who just don't get it, or brush it off as the wankery of nerdy fans. And then the stupid tired 'white=heroes, dark=baddies' pattern that they ended up with once Jesse McCartney bowed out, and the changes in the plot--grr. I've read reviews from those who did see it, and heard AJ's opinion after his aunt took him to see it, and just...gah. AJ thought it was 'not very good', and this is from the kid who said Furry Vengeance (cliche, juvenile and predictible but decently acted and could have been worse) was 'pretty good!' *headdesk* Changing the rules of firebending is dumb, and shows a lack of understanding of the source material that Shyamalan claims to have loved so much. Changing the pronunciation of various names is just stupid when adapting something where the pronuciation is already established - it's not like it's a book. Turning Katara into the standard girly-tagalong sidekick who looks ready to cry in every shot I've seen of her makes me seethe; I pray he doesn't make the other two movies so we never have to see what he would have done to Toph, to Suki, to Azula. And other things - that episode where Haru was captured and Katara hatched a plan to infiltrate and free the earthbenders? Apparently the movie turned Haru into a nameless kid who got arrested for throwing rocks at Fire Nation soldiers or something petty like that, not because he revealed he was an earthbender to help save someone's life. And then the prison, that was originally on a ship so the earthbenders couldn't bend? Is apparently on land, and the earthbenders are just not bright enough to think of using their skills to mount an escape on their own until Sokka--not Katara--rallies them to revolt. This is especially grr-some when you remember that the Earth Kingdom is where all Shyamalan's touted 'diversity' went, meaning that it's again the white kids that gotta come help the dumb colored folks save themselves. *smashes things* And all the christian flavor being snuck in, with Aang's Ong's tattoos being turned into a cross and the trailers carrying on about his sacrifice (what sacrifice?) and such - not every story needs to be hijacked by Jesus, Hollywood. Come on. It's okay to let other religions wield an influence now and then. [/rant]

I swear the original show summed it up best in that Ember Island Players episode in book three, where they all go to the play about themselves and come out going 'That...wasn't a good play' and Sokka's all 'But the effects were decent!' It's uncanny foreshadowing that would be funny if it wasn't so heartbreaking, because a live-action A:tLA movie could have been epic. T_T

And seriously? Dante Basco got turned down? I hadn't heard that before, but...it just figures. Stupid Hollywood. Even if he is older than I am, he really doesn't look it and could pull off Angry-Teenager very well. IMO. Dev Patel would have made a better Sokka, visually, with his goofy grin and those ears . Feh. And what the hell did the makeup people do to Zuko's scar? That thing's hardly even visible and certainly not a proper visual complement to the psychological trauma of being branded, banished and stripped of honor by his own father. But then again for all I know, they probably went and fucked with his backstory, too. [/rant again]

[entitys.livejournal.com]

i screened it because i was going to take my nephews to see it. i decided against taking them. AJ is a smart kid, he had it right. here's the skinny:

casting: terrible. nevermind the racebending for a moment, Rathbone wasn't a good choice for Sokka because he's a bad actor. what kind of person can't show emotion? i mean, that's ok if you're playing in those terrible twilight films, but Sokka is the comic relief. Rathbone wasn't even funny.
Peltz: she did look like she was going to cry the whole film. i don't know how she managed to make a dynamic character like Katara pathetic, simpering, and unnecessary to the plot, but she did.
Patel: scar? i agree. acting . . . i admit biased toward Basco. i am completely loyal to the original Zuko. always will be.
Ringer: had the right look. didn't have Aang's proper personality. its like M. Night S. was trying to fuse Aang with his Avatar personality = way too serious. he didn't even do the air scooter. wtf?
the Princess: the only character i have absolutely no issue with. she looked the part, she played her role well.

Story: yes. it was borked. followed some events of Book 1, but changed how those events unfolded, i.e.:
Haru and the Earth tribe rebellion which didn't include the metal ship floating in the sea, but like you said, White-people-to-the-rescue on native Earth.
Katara didn't fight Zuko, so much as get thrown around and knocked out. i was really disappointed in that.
Firebenders couldn't make their own fire.
Momo was damn near nonexistent.
Random water tribe killed the general.
There is nothing between Aang and Katara
Suki isn't even mentioned.
Aang can't get married and have kids because apparently saviors aren't allowed to do that. ever.
Aang didn't go water monster -- actually, this was a better alternative (kills me to say this), but raising the water to demonstrate his power . . . more effective. also, how the princess died -- she waded into the pool and her white hair drained to black as her life energy transferred; very nice and subtle effect.

aside from that, movie was crap. and i think what made it worse besides the name pronunciation changing, was the dialogue altogether. listening to it, it sounded like a second grade play, where the kids are given too many lines with too many big words, and the result is a botched telling that isn't cute and forgivable because it takes too long and tries the parents' patience. you're right, i hope there are no sequels because i couldn't stand to see Toph mutilated -- she's my favorite character (followed very closely by Zuko).

i liked that the Airbender tattoos were actual sigils, could have done without them being turned into a cross, hijacked by Jesus (E and i have laughed for a good two hours now on that). All in all i do agree, could have been HUGE, ended up another sad testament to the world we live in.

And, yes, Dante Basco got turned down, i read his interview. it is weird to think of his age. i have had the hugest crush on him since he was a Lost Boy in Hook. between Rufio and Don't Ask (grin) E wondered why i watched that movie constantly.

(points down) i don't deal in Mac products if i can help it. i torrented all three books and burned them to DVD. been marathoning with my father and brother. we're having lots of fun watching.

[tj-dragonblade.livejournal.com]

I'm actually (finally) doing a proper complete-and-chronological re-watch of the show--the Netflix app for iTouch is the Best Thing Ever, btw--because Book 3 was the only season that I actually saw all of and all in order on tv. I just finished Book 1, and I didn't realize how many episodes I had actually missed in between all the ones I had seen. It makes me love the show all that much more, and think that maybe I might actually have to replace Sokka with Zuko as my favorite character.

Re: #2: It was third grade and earlier that I recall liking those names, and I think it's not unlike your impression of them - they sound like the names of pretty and popular girls, and that appealed to me at that (very young) point in my life. I grew out of it. ^_^

Re: #4: ...Y'know, objectively speaking, I can totally see his point. I still find her attractive despite it, but I do see his point.

And dude, I totally need to go catch up on your webcomic, too. >_< *Posts a reminder on iGoogle homepage*