Let's Open the Cookie Jar

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it's basically the inside of sakinah's brain.
but mercifully edited, censored, and anaesthesised with a heavy dose of prozac.

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Design: doughnutcrazy
Icon: morphine_kissed

NERDITY AHEAD

Lately, I haven't been able to bring myself to blog about the melodrama currently plaguing my brain. It would appear I prefer to block out the confusing philosophical/political nonsense with happier stuff. Unfortunately, I don't keep a tight rein on my happy level, thus making it very easy for 'happy' to jump to 'excessive-hyperactivity-that's bound-to-get-me-sent-to-Tanjung-Rambutan'.

Shhh....my door is creaking sign language to me again. And I'm still using the new glasses that are constantly making my eyes water. And I need to give the chocolates to Som. I feel like kacau-ing her.

SO ANYWAY.

Have just finished watching Eva 1.0, and I've decided to come out with a list of manga that I thought was good! Something like what I used to have over at my LiveJournal account (before I deleted it), but hopefully with shorter summaries this time. I hate writing summaries anyway. And for the record, Eva 1.0 was awesome.

Neon Evangelion Genesis drawn by Sadamoto Yoshiyuki.

Sadamoto-sensei's contribution to the .hack series is staggering. He's like Silent Hill's Yamaoka Akira, but with a G-nib pen instead of the kick-ass electric guitar. By that, I mean his artwork gave NEG its distinct feel, despite the fact that Hideaki Anno is the real Dr. Frankenstein behind the creation of NEG.

The artwork was maintained surprisingly well throughout its 16 years of serialization. Clean-cut, detailed, somewhat typical shounen with the fanservice here and there but what the hey. The story is well-paced; and it managed to portray the psyche of the Eva pilots and their haunts seemingly effortlessly. One favourite scene of mine is the time when Akari Shinji discovered Rei's secret. Mmm, I was pleasantly creeped out by the sight of the countless floating bodies.

Ookiku Furikabutte by Higuchi Asa.

BAAAASEEEEBAAAAAALLLLLL! At times like this, I wish I have ESPN.

The highlight of this manga series has got to be the nervous, timid pitcher who's obsessed with pitching, and the mound. He also thinks that his catcher is God Almighty (HALLELUJAH) which gives the manga some strong shounen-ai flavour, but I'm all for that. Seriously, this guy makes some of the funniest faces I have ever seen. In fact, this book might have won the Kodansha Award simply because of him!

Other than that, Oofuri- as if it is fondly known, shows in-depth baseball strategy planning. There's a lot of baseball jargon in here, most of which I don't understand. What really impresses me is the amount of psychological play that goes in the game. The little things that run in each player's minds affect their gameplay, their teammates, and consequently, the game itself. For a shounen sports manga, Oofuri is rather touchy-feely, but that's what makes it interesting.

Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga.

In this imaginative retelling of Japans' history, a contagion known as the redpox has claimed the lives of men- and only men; drastically changing the male to female ratio and endangering the way of life as we had all known it. The scarcity of men has forced women to join the workforce and hard labour, and soon, threatened the social order of organisation that had long been the custom of the not only Japan, but the entire human race.

Males as the authoritative figure has somehow become like a hereditary knowledge bred into everyone; men and women alike. Yoshinaga-sensei challenged this perception by crippling the male population, and Ooku became the stage in which she portrayed the economical, political and social consequences.

This ordeal is particularly problematic with a country like Japan and her customs. Men are the warriors upon the battlefield, the farmers that work the land, the head of the family, the heir and the supreme ruler. Take them away, and you're left with a void caused not only by their deaths, but by mindset and tradition.

The story is skillfully told in no way other than Yoshinaga-sensei herself could have managed. The art is simple, and to people unaccustomed to her style, may take insult at the awkward angles. As a saving grace, more attention has been paid into the background, successfully bringing out shogunate life in each panel. However, the panels are continuous with one another, like the negatives of a film reel. Panel after panel that gives way to page after page and finally volumes that tell the story as effectively as a real live action film. That, is story-telling.

Other manga that deserve the same credit but lack the space;

Axis Powers Hetalia by Himaruya Hidekaz
Pluto by Urasawa Naoki and Tezuka

I ended up nerding out on Ooku and Yoshinaga-sensei. Ahahhaha. But she is just that awesome.

Labels: manga

Shut Up and Pray

I have ADHD. Like that should come as a surprise. And now my brand new super awesome mega deluxe glasses with transition lenses are superbly teh awesome! By the way, they look totally like this! Except Optical England did not have them in these cool (typical China-man look, LOL JO SZE YOU SHOULD LIKE, TOTALLY OWN THESE THEN WE CAN BE LIKE, GAY TOGETHER *glomp*) black so mine are transparent white with the ear hook parts in purple. They feel a bit weird because the left one is upgraded with astigmatism lenses (cylindrical lens!) and the nose bit is somewhat uncomfortable and I find my reaction time reduced by 50% because it's giving me double images BUT WHAT THE HEY. They are too cool to be sent back. Nadia said they made me look like a nerd, though.

I am halfway finishing reading 1984. Rather haunting read, and it's better than Fahrenheit 451 by a mile, I think. How far is a mile converted to kilometers?

Signed up for Jakarta trip. Awin gave me Pn Noryati's (?) number (be it office or home, but chances are it's office because, why did I say home again? how ridiculous HELLO BRAIN ARE YOU HOME THIS INSTANT??).

But honestly, I am getting overly attached to my gorgeous bed during this holiday. Thanks to having the netbook being oh so portable, pillows being extra plump and comfy. There's also a convenient shelf above my head so I can stash snacks and drinks up there. I can practically live on my bed. Baths are optional, and direct me to the potty can if you will; or whatever you call them. Ah, the splendid secluded life of an anti-social is enviable by all means *sips her limau purut tea which is awesome*

Then again, by having a deadline (ie departure date), I will hopefully be able to spend time more wisely. Such as helping mum rearrange the furniture, get in touch with old friends (not like I have many remaining in the PJ area. DAMN YOU AUSTRALIA AND GREAT BRITAIN! I hope you choke on your breakfast sausage), learning to drive (like, actually drive to some destination and not scare people by speeding inappropriately and the likes) etc etc.

I must be having a chocolate high. I sound insane.

Labels: rants

Holiday Post

Have finally managed to drug self to finish watching Mr Cameron's Avatar. While the movie is not as bad as my family made it out to be, it's nothing beyond the level of typical Marvel movies. I christen it as Blue Pocahontas, pun intended. There is nothing freakier than four feet tall aliens making out in a radioactive, fluorescent garden of-

Oh goodie, the ceiling is leaking again. God is probably telling me to stop making fun of other people's hard work, and He'd probably add, 'You lazybum, teehee,' at the end there. Okay, I'll stop that thought short.

But in all honesty, nothing amazes me more than Hollywood script and their predictability. Ironic. Throughout the film, my mind was running parallels between Avatar, Disney's Pocahontas and the infamous Iraq war. Did anybody else notice that Avatar even had the swimming in the river bit, except it got cut short because otherwise, Disney lawyers are really going to make Avatar the priciest film there is, and not in the way Mr Cameron intended it to be.

The Eywa concept was very interesting though. Irregardless of what Shar and Aaron claim me to be, I am a religious person, and my views are painted as thus, although I do try to keep my perspective in the objective. A point that they brought up with the Eywa is that it is biological. It has substance, reasoning, and therefore it exists. My thoughts are then focused on Alissa's fixation that I watch the movie for myself, and I suppose this may have been her reason as to why. Well, it's an interesting thought. Perhaps I'll continue this line of thinking in another time.

But still, a thought nonetheless.

Having the netbook on my bed is certainly making the Internet an extremely comfortable past-time. Even so, there are also delicious books here waiting to be read. There's Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (ooh, would love to write something about this one! hahaha, Americans really are funny), Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox. My curiousity for the philosophical world also drew me to Sophie's World by a Norwegian author whose name I'm probably pronouncing wrongly, Jostein Gaardner, John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things (wonderful read) and a lot of classics and a couple of manga.

Ah yes, it's going to be a great holiday. As long as I don't get called for supplementary, which if I do, then direct me to guillotine, sir!

Labels: books, rants, religion