Saturday, June 16, 2001

More Zell Blither:

Adopt A Seed

Velocity^2

Green Mayhem -- this page has a movie of Zell's first entrance on it, so it loads sort of slowly.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:58 AM |

Mmph... SeeD Barracks
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:11 AM |

Does IE exist for Win95, or am I hallucinating the idea that there ever -was- an IE for Wintel boxes? 'Cause every search I run gets me everything _but_ an .exe file.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:24 AM |

I have to go take stuff to the dump. I am not excited about this. I am annoyed. Grrrr.... *wanders off, still growling*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:25 AM |

Friday, June 15, 2001

Mmph. Not gonna rant about the size-twelve-woman thing.

Yet, anyhow.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:30 AM |

...Because I have something better!

Okay, dad wanted me to find this station online: KLTY (note: this station plays Christian music. It hasn't been too bad, so far, but...)

KLTY is doing some kind of promotion at a waterpark today. The 'phrase that pays'?

"Let's get wet!"

Yeah, I'm sick. Lemme alone. *Snerk*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:33 AM |

Two unrelated items:

From the square watermelon story... Look! It's Wolf Blitzer looking like Richard Dreyfuss from 'What About Bob?' (And I'd buy a square watermelon, too. They're probably easier to cut up as well as to store.)

BoyKani Blog
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:39 AM |

Yeeeee! Zell! And yaoi-friendly Zell fans!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:30 PM |

Thursday, June 14, 2001

*Grump* This was in my inbox today:

".Warning:....I'm shocking when it comes to grammar and all that so don't kill me okay *s*"

Look, Mac, if you're not good at grammar, ask someone who IS! I'm not reading any of your stories, because I can't freaking get past the typos, grammatical errors, and misplaced punctuation.

If I were meaner, I'd MiST it.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:35 PM |

Bwahahaha... On top of inadvertantly hosting a dinner for ten gays*, our less-than-worthy-of-the-title-'honorable' mayor now has the AkCLU suing him... and all he had to do was leave an exhibit at the library alone.

This exhibit was a gay pride exhibit. It was on the third floor. Third floor is Adult Non-Fiction, Resource, and Alaskana. At this time of year, unless little kids are _really_ precocious, there's no reason for them to be up there. And the Library is a public place -dedicated- to the first amendment. What the HELL is he doing supressing freedom of speech in a LIBRARY?

I am SO glad I did not vote for that man. He's an ass.

*) My mother's friend Erin is friends with a lesbian couple. One of -their- friends (who is a gay guy) won a dinner for ten to be hosted by our dishonorable mayor and his wife in an auction. He claimed that dinner, recently, and invited all of his friends. Hee.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:38 PM |

Oh, and a Happy Flag Day to you all. *Wanders off, whistling The Stars And Stripes Forver*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:42 PM |

Ranty Smutty fun over on SmutBlog.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:59 PM |

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

"I'm not dead yet..."
"Yes you are!"
"I think I'll go for a walk..."

"I'd like you to think of me as your father, in a very -real- and legally-binding sense."

Heh. I know, I've been a little AWOL, of late... But I've been productive! See below.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:22 PM |

And, For The Second Year In A Row, An Alaskan Wins The Cup:

Scott Parker, forward and penalty-minute man for the Avs, hails from Eagle River. It's only about 35 minutes away from here!

Awww! *Grin* *Bounce* -My- season ended on a happy note: Ray Borque got to skate the Cup. To see Joe Sakic hand it over and say "here, go, it's yours", to see the culmination of over 20 years worth of effort... That was worth cheering for. And I'm not one to be moved by sports, usually, but this... _Wow_.

Wow. And congrats, guys.

Now, to decide what to do with Marc, Vic and the rest...

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:24 PM |

The Anime Facts of Life
(Or: My contribution to I Have Seen The Light... And it is subtitled!)

1) No one is EVER 'done' collecting anime. Or anime-related items, which include but are not limited to: CDs, manga, videogames, pencil boards, cards, and toys. I started my collection just as DVDs were introduced, and now I have to start over again... Which is actually okay, in some ways -- this way I can buy a whole series on fewer storage-media items.

2) Subtitled. Anime. Is. The. Only. Anime. (Trust me: you do NOT want to hear Yahiko and Kaoru running around with DBZ voices. Ever.) And even the pro subtitlers can make mistakes with spelling, grammar, and oissions.

3) The pretty girls sometimes turn out to be _really_ pretty boys. [Unless you're in the Phillipines, where they rename the character Denise and give her a girl's voice. (Okay, so I have no idea how true that story is, but it -sounds- good.)] And sometimes (though much more rarely) the pretty boys turn out to be pretty girls.

4) If the characters jiggle in the previews, expect much, much more in the real thing. (Example: Fatal Fury movies have This Girl in them. Her creators apparently do not have her mammaries, as they would have them strapped down or relatively nonexistant. She -is- a fighter, after all... *Smacks self* Right, anime, never mind...)

5) Ninja Scroll, The Series and Jubei's Revenge are NOT worth buying. Rent JR for the dragon-detroying-the-castle scene only. The rest of it is bloody, boring, and confusing.

6) Tamahome and Miaka are annoying. They always will be.

7) There will be cultural references that you Just Don't Get.

8) Yu Yu Hakusho The Movie (the long one with Lord Yu-whatsis.... Not Yutaro, Yuta... Yu... I can't remember.) has this scene that's missing -something-. I think they forgot to dub in a line or three.

9) While anime can be cartoony, it is -still- deeply, fundamentally _different_ from the western concept of 'cartoons'.

10) Your friends probably do NOT have the same taste in anime that you do. Be sure to quiz them closely on what they will and will not tolerate for the sake of a few second's worth of bishounen-watching. Heh. (And for the record, I -am- sorry about Master Of Mosquiton.)

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:25 PM |

*Grins at Scrubby and snags the link* Aww! Heh. There's something similar in Konamasi, but I hadn't even considered the possibility of it being anything but local... So I'm a dork. *Rolls eyes* What else is new, right?

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:27 PM |

I saw a black bear this morning! It was in the middle of the road as I was on my way to Chris' house (more in a sec). The bear kind of looked at me as I approached, then ambled over to the guardrail, hopped up onto it, then down onto the bank on the other side... The last I saw of it was its bottom disappearing downhill. Very cool. I haven't seen wild bears very often -- in fact, I think the only one I saw (that I remember, anyhow) prior to this was a Grizzly up in the Interior somewhere. And this one was on a well-traveled public road!

*Grin* Yeah, we have bears in town. Not -downttown-, though, and I've never seen one as low as my house. The road where I saw this bear is about ten minutes and a couple hundred feet higher in elevation than my place.

I'm quasi-dogsitting for Chris -- my brother is actually staying up at her house, which is way to hell and gone up on Hillside. My grandparents used to live in a cul-de-sac that's just down the road from her house... I go up to the house every morning to feed the dogs and keep them company for a little while. Chris has a German Shorthaired Pointer named Coco, a neurotic Cocker Spaniel named Buster, and an utterly -ancient- Husky named Roxy.

Roxy is... Well, -old-. She makes me want to put her up on a shelf out of the way so she doesn't get broken. And Coco and Buster are constantly bumping into her with little to no regard for her well-being. This morning, Coco nearly knocked her off her feet and was trying to get her to play with her and Buster. *Rolls eyes* I kind of hate looking after them, if for no other reason than I'm always terrified something's going to happen to Roxy while Chris is gone. I couldn't find her, at first, when I got to the house on Sunday... She was sleeping behind a little credenza in Chris' bedroom, I believe.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:28 PM |

More Rambling About Writing/Drawing Other People's Characters...

I do my best to study the character that I'm going to write, whether I'm writing fanfic for a TV show or writing scenes involving original characters. Sometimes I have to go back and reread things, or sit down and make myself watch a particular episode of whatever show.

When I was writing my Trigun bit, I went back and rewatched Ep. 13 (Vash The Stampede) along with Demon's Eye (Ep. 15), Murder Machines (Ep. 9) and Quick Draw (Ep. 10), so that I could get Vash and Wolfwood right. They're still not -quite- right, because the canon has them paired off with Meryl and Milly, respectively, but they're as right as I could get them at the time.

Study is important. Even for writing someone whose overwhelming personality trait is merely 'nasty as the day is long, if not moreso'. I don't know any of Dom's little tics or triggers, at least not as well as you know them, Scrubby. From what you've told me, though, I could probably do a passable job with him going to breakfast somewhere fancy, because I'm pretty sure that the IHOP on the corner Simply Wouldn't Do for our dear Grigio.

Study is important for writing your -own- characters. I'm always forgetting names, hair and eye colors, and what they've told whom. Writing someone else's character is just like writing your own, except that it takes a little more work. I want to write a little thing called 'Zell Never Has Any Fun', but I don't really _know_ all that much about him. I know he's rambunctious, that he likes hot dogs, and that very few people are ever nice to him -- at least two people refused to shake his hand. Seifer calls him 'Chicken-wuss' at least twice... But other than that, I don't -know-. I need to be able to watch anime featuring him, or read manga, but I don't know if any exists (well, besides yaoi doujinshis, anyhow).

But anyway. I'd be tickled pink, purple and three shades of blue if you'd take a stab at some of my characters, Scrubby. Really, the only advice I can think to offer you is to consider the actions you think up, and decide if they fit what you know of the character. What I know of Dom tells me that he would _never_ bottom. He's just not wired that way. So I write him as top, and not a very -nice- one, either. I doubt that he could give Reesa's version of Richard a run for his money on the mental side of things, either. (And lemme tell you, Reesa's Rick -scares- me. He is _so_ not someone I'd ever want to meet...)

And -speaking- of Richard... I occasionally don't really like my version of him. I don't feel that I've stayed very true to the character he started out as, and sometimes not even my usual excuse of 'but characters are -supposed- to change!' helps, much. But then again, maybe this is just an Alternate Universe version of Rick.

To abruptly digress: I _love_ AUs. They're the one saving grace of my fanfics, since I sometimes cannot work from canon (see Small Fires for an example of this). I've never seen Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (though it's supposed to be starting on FX in the fall... Yay! Buffy From The Beginning!), so all three Buffy fics I've started are AUs. Alternate Universes are an excellent device, particularly when they're done well.

In conclusion:

1) Study the character as well as you can. Take notes, if necessary -- I could NOT for the life of me remember how to spell Dr. Gensai's name, or if the squinty-eyed guy was Genji or Tomo. I rewatched a couple of eps of Rurouni Kenshin and took notes. (The squinty-eyed guy is Genji.)

2) Consider your potential actions/dialogues and see how well they fit with what you know. Kenshin wouldn't ever call Megumi a conniving bitch; Marc wouldn't give Dom head at center ice -except- in an RPS story... [More Digression, sorry: RPS' count as AUs, since they're supposed to be written by people that have no real idea of how the protagonists act in real life. Therefore we can have a vicious Victor and a sweet'n'sappy Grigio, or an indifferent Marc and an agressive, hitting-on-everyone-he-sees Tikka, or a Vis that wants nothing more than to jerk off while watching Val take a shower... So. Lotsa possibilities there, and no real way to 'fuck up' someone else's C. *Hinthint* *Snerks and decides that this will be the only acknowledgement of the bad, bad, _bad_ pun* [/digression]

And last but not least:

3) This is your chance to show us your interpretation. I was telling someone about the phrase 'crumb-covered marlin pitcher' and said they could interpret it however they wanted to, whether that was a breaded baseball-throwing guy for the Florida team or... 'Someone that throws the fish,' they said. I hadn't thought of -that- angle. Your version doesn't have to be canon. Your version is merely another facet, not the be-all end-all of the character. See my Rick-blither above.

Maybe mine is canon, maybe Reesa's. The important part, though, is that we could -both- be missing something else, some other part of him that -you- want us to explore, but we have yet to catch on to your psychic pleas and are inadvertantly ignoring you. Maybe you think he should have a thing for tying people up with cotton shoelaces. Maybe you think he needs to be a gourmet cook as well as a heart surgeon. Or maybe you just want to see him _being_ a heart surgeon in the OR instead of a horny asshole in the bedroom. Maybe you want to see him playing with Trenton Barabas and being really silly and sweet. *Shrug* I hadn't thought of writing any of those things until just now, and maybe someday I will.

I think I'm done, now. *Blink*

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:30 PM |

You know the other nice part about shopping at Old Navy? They don't charge more for XL or XXL items. They're all the same, pretty much reasonable price as the S-M-L items. I needed some new pajamas, since it's so warm, now... I'm wearing a pair of light bluey-green-to-darker blue-green dip-dye shorts, and have a pair of blue-and-green plaid PJ bottoms awaiting bedtime.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:32 PM |

Trigun Trauma and Other Animated Antics:

*Whimper* I got the last Trigun disc today -- High Noon. I have someone else to add to my Unecessary Character Death List... I won't, just yet, and I'm not posting spoilers, either. Let me just say that not even the marginally happy ending that the story came to helps to dull the pain. "Do you want revenge?" "I don't know."

On a cheerier note: Outlaw Star's ending was pretty good... Though I have to say I was really surprised by my sudden change of feeling toward Harry MacDougal. The guy was a nasty little psychotic _freak_ for twenty-two episodes, and then he does something completely..._pleasant_. And out of the goodness of his heart, rather than for some sort of gain. Best dialogue: "It was a miracle?" "Yeah. I talked to God."

I bought a CD today, featuring the cast of Tenchi Muyo singing karaoke at a hotsprings. Guest Star: Kagato. *Snicker* It's quite good, actually, and I'm -really- wanting to get the TM Perfect Collection set, now, so I can see it without the gicky dub voices. I picked out Sasami and Mihoshi(i?)'s voices on the first listen. Washuchan is still my favorite character, though... "You're cute! Wanna be a guinea pig in an experiment of mine?"

Oh, and I am Shrek. Just in case you hadn't guessed that one already. I loved the movie, though it did almost lose my respect at a couple of points... And I'd just like to say that Fiona was prettier after sundown than before. (If nothing else, her frame -finally- matched her ridiculous bustline...) And the dragon! *Sniggle* I _adore_ Jonathon Lithgow as a villain. He just has that wonderful pompous.....Somethingorother that makes him perfect. "I'm going to build a ten-foot wall around -my- swamp."

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:38 PM |

And speaking of being too warm, here's a little something that just kind of popped into my head and wouldn't go away. I Have No Idea #5. Warnings: Stream-Of-Consciousness ramblings and no proper nouns. I'm sure that it won't be too hard to figure out. *Grin* Enjoy, Or Something.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:40 PM |

Mme. Jean's supposed to come over tomorrow and I'm to do some scanning for her... And maaaaaaybe set her up at Elfwood. Hee! Her art puts mine to shame, but I can live with it. I can also take the elements that work from hers and do my best to incorporate them into my own style. *Snerk*

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:41 PM |

My father's coming over on Friday and we're going to do Computer Stuff.

He wants to listen to some Texas radio station and look for t-shirt companies, as well as try to figure out what kind of a computer he should buy... Yes, that's right.:

My father, Technophobe and Luddite, is going to buy a computer. And get internet access. He doesn't want to do e-mail, but he's going to have to, I think... I forsee lots of help-time in my future. He also wants to do web-cam stuff and long-distance telephone calls via the net... I don't know much about that, though. I have LOTS of research to do. Ugh.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:43 PM |

Susannah D. Rosenburg was mentioned on Technomancy. *Blinkblink* That's -the- Sus, right? Otherwise, I have NO real idea why that name looks -so- familiar...

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:45 PM |

Um.... I think that's all I have to say for right now. No, it isn't. I figured out what to do with Cid's hair, now all I have to do is figure out the removable wings/tail/pointy bits angle and come up with more script ideas, and I'll be set. Heh.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:47 PM |

Okay, -now- I'm done. Oyasumi, and I'll see what I can write up in the next couple of days... *Small grin* My Dom scares Scrubby... Which is sort of the point of a Dom, isn't it? *Whistles innocently and skitters off, trying to avoid any spiked heels or hockey pucks lobbed her way*

Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:48 PM |