Notes From an Ayewards World

Happy Birthday, b3nitora !

2009-06-29T16:35:34Z

I hope your day is the greatest, b3n-chan!

Great-Sounding Movie News!

2009-06-27T03:26:12Z

They're making a movie of The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff! The idea got a great reception at Cannes!

(Thanks to sovay for the tip!)

Writer's Block: RIP Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T14:20:31Z

In honor of the King of Pop: What is your favorite Michael Jackson song?

Submitted By deathbylies

View other answers

Probably "Man in the Mirror." But "Billie Jean," with that slippery little riff (organ, maybe?), is that one that keeps earworming me.

Happy Birthday, sevenall !

2009-06-25T22:26:25Z

I am full of fail - it's almost the next day where you are, I think!

Would Some Weiß Kreuz / Gravitation Fans Care to Explain This?

2009-06-24T02:48:00Z

This here, I mean.

(OK, it's for a crossover RPG, I guess. Still, my brain hurts.)

(I found it while I was trying to get a more solid picture in my mind after reading lady_ganesh's recent opus. Bear in mind that I have never seen Weiß Kreuz ... but I have actually read Gravitation.)

Fried Ham!

2009-06-21T19:25:39Z

Fried ham, fried ham, cheese and baloney,
And after the macaroni,
We'll have pickles, onions, and pretzels -
And then we'll have some more fried ham!
FRIED HAM FRIED HAM FRIED HA-AM !!!

- traditional Scout camp ditty

So the Mr. celebrated Father's Day by going down to the farmer's market on his ownsome (I was glued to my work laptop, testing some systems that had to be successfully "failed over" to back-up in time for work tomorrow because of power system issues at the main data center) and coming back with fresh beefsteak tomatoes, basil, - and sugar-cured fresh ham. Which he proceeded to fry up and turn into panini-ish sandwiches of ham, cheese (cheddar for him, campo de montalban for me), tomatoe, and basil leaves. MMMMmM!

Uh Oh ... Startling Samurai Deeper Kyo News!

2009-06-12T14:55:01Z

Via inkstone on Dreamwidth:

... TOKYOPOP lost the license to Samurai Deeper Kyo! But that explains why volume 35 has been impossible to find, no matter what Amazon says. I can't believe it though -- there are only 4 volumes left! (Never mind the fact that SDK is supposedly one of their better sellers. This can't bode well for TP if they lost the SDK license and the final English volume of Furuba is released soon.) On the other hand, it also appears that Del Rey has the license to the final 4 volumes and if the listing for volume 35 is accurate, they'll be released in double-sized volumes. Let's hope it's true. That'll be imminently sad if SDK ends its English run with only 4 volumes to go!

You can take a look at the Delray catalog listing here.

The Passing-On of Knowledge

2009-06-12T01:14:17Z

It is good to hand down the important things in life to the next generation.

I just introduced The Young Lady to They Fight Crime.

(The impulse was inspired, I should add, by oyceter's recent book review.)

Which Fantasy Author Am I?

2009-06-10T02:04:47Z

I'm honored but puzzled to discover that I am Ursula LeGuin.

You too can discover which fantasy author you are ... .

(I could have given more romantic, less cynical answers on some of those questions if the romantic choices hadn't been so completely extreme!)

Desktop Wallpaper Meme

2009-06-08T15:13:15Z

From artillie:

Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper on their LiveJournal.
Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!.
Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!

I just about always have nature pix on my desktop at work, to help me be more calm and grounded. The weather is starting to get hot outside now, so this is a very cool, green picture, especially with the time-lapsed creek. I love trees and naturally running water.

Zemer Chai in Concert at Ohr Kodesh, Chevy Chase, MD (June 4, 2009))

2009-06-05T11:49:25Z

I actually had a date with the Mr. last night. On a weeknight, too! He had tickets to Zemer Chai, a Jewish choir in which the wife of one of his former bosses sings, and another colleague is a supporter of the group. He'd meant to go with yet another colleague who's into the group (they saw it together last year too) but the other guy couldn't go, so he took me. XD

This is basically a very good U.S./European-style mixed choir that focuses on traditional European Jewish music from both the Ashkenazi (German/Polish/Russian etc.) and and Sephardi (Italian/Spanish/Turkish) traditions, with some Israeli songs thrown in for good measure. It's generally very melodic and very tightly, elaborately arranged (examples: here and here). In some ways, this was the very antithesis of the Idan Raichel concert I took in with smillaraaq earlier this spring.

That's not to say that some of the songs weren't lively. We also got a bit of Yiddish theater in the second half, when the director chained several songs together to make a little slice-of-life drama. First, a young, bearded male singer stepped out from the ranks of the choir and added a newsboy cap to his kippeh, thus transforming himself into Dovidl, a boy from an Eastern European Jewish community who loves a girl named Reizl - potrayed by another choir member's teenaged daughter, in a peasant blouse and a long skirt ("Reizele"). They court each other, and according to the director's narration, get married (to the Sephardic wedding song "Scalerica de Oro" - "A Ladder of Gold"), and then have a baby (the Ladino lullaby "Durme" - "Sleep, Little One"). Then came the undoubted highlight of the evening, when a 12-year-old boy (I'm guessing the age) came out of the audience and did a duet - in Yiddish - with his choir-member grandfather, portraying father and son: the son is a trouble-making space cadet in school, the Rebbe has been complaining, and the whole thing was just completely amusing and touching at the same time. Wow, did that kid have a set of pipes!

Then we all helped wrap things up by joining Zemer Chai in singing the classic Yiddish riddle song "Tumbalalaika."

Happy Birthday lady-ganesh !

2009-06-04T11:33:15Z

I hope your day is simply splendid and completely satisfying!

"Scanner of Your Heart" Meme

2009-06-03T00:29:04Z

Hmmm, I could swear there was an earlier version of this some year or other, but blessed if I can remember where or when ... .

Scanner of your heart (Izismile.com)

1. Your choice symbolizes a person whom you could like in real life situations.
Sheep – Obedient, don’t like conflicts.
2. Your choice symbolizes the impression that you want to have on people.
Dog - loyalty and devotion.
3. Your choice symbolizes a behavior that would make you finish your relationship with your partner (beloved one).
Shark - Your partner is a person who doesn’t count people around him, for him/her the end justifies the means.
4. Your choice symbolizes a type of relationship that you would like to have with your partner (beloved one).
Horse – Both of you can discuss any topic without being emotional. You have no secrets from each other.
5. Your choice shows whether you are capable of cheating.
Person - it is unlikely that you cheat.
6. Your choice shows your attitude toward marriage.
Leopard - you have always wanted to marry, but in fact, you do not know anything about marriage.
7. Your choice shows your attitude toward love.
Dove - For you, love is an equal relationship between two people.

I hope I don’t have to explain that the test is meant to be at least partially humorous - don't take it too seriously [OK, I edited some of this. I just could not deal with putting the original garbled text in my LJ ... .]
Take the test again!

Heh, I don't know how obedient I am. But it's true that I don't like conflicts. And I do wish I could discuss things with him more rationally. The number (6) answer is the really weird one: that was probably true when I got married. But here it is 24 years later ... .

I approve of the rest of the answers. That's a rather interesting piece of fluff!

Bleach, vol. 27 (Tite Kubo)

2009-06-02T12:05:55Z

Yes, I'm still reading Bleach, even though I haven't bothered to write it up for some time. Most of it has become pretty formulaic, with the good guys having to beat up on piles of more- and more-badass bad guys. There have only been a few scenes that would have been worth writing up: the Orihime-Rangiku girl-talk confessional, and Yumichika's reaction to Ikkakku's fight with Edrad Leones (lower left panel; be still, my shippy little heart!), and some of the Vizard stuff.

Then along comes this volume, with much, much awesomeness. The trouble is, I have seen people's complaints about things that happen further along. Oh Kubo-sensei, you nasty tease ... you're just toying with me, aren't you?

The rest is going under a cut - there's not much to say about the plot that won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't been keeping up.

Bleach, vol. 27 (review)

Anyway, this volume wraps up the extremely nasty fight that Hitsugaya's folks were having with the Arrancar team led by eeeee-vil little Luppi, as well as Grimmjow's fight with Ichigo. And then Mr. Emo Arrancar (OK, fine, Ulquiorra) shows up and kidnaps Orihime, who was on her way back to the living world with a Very Important Message. The Captain General refuses to let anyone go after her, because she might be a traitor. So of course Ichigo, Chad, and Ishida are soon on their way to Hueco Mundo, the world of the Arrancars, to rescue her. And Urahara, of course, helps them get there.

Things I really, really liked:

Hitsugaya finally pwns Luppi, who had been asking for it for some time (sadly, the little octo-weasel doesn't die ... at that moment)
Shinji (Shinji!) rescues Ichigo and Rukia
Yumichika attempts to rise from his bed of pain to rescue Ikkaku from Ururu (hee!)
Yuzu and Karin insist on eating their dinner next to their unconscious nii-chan, and then fall asleep on the floor; and Yuzu has a strawberry (= ichigo) hair clip in that scene
That upon entering Ichigo's room, Orihime notes that "it smells like him" - and then her declaration of love for Ichigo (waaaaah! So sad!)
Renji attempting to snow the Captain General about rescuing Orihime - and it's plain he's doing it for Ichigo's sake. I love that look he gives Ichigo!
Kenpachi and Byakuya arrive together to shepherd the errant shinigami home
Ichigo thanks Shinji by leaving him a bundle of clean bandages all traditionally done up in a furoshiki - and Shinji's reaction to it
Tatsuki confronts Ichigo about why Orihime is missing and what the heck has Ichigo really been doing - and gets so mad at him that she smashes his head through a window pane with a single punch
Urahara's spell to open the Garganta passageway to Hueco Mundo
That Urahara realizes the whole time that Tatsuki and the other two have been watching as Urahara sends Ichigo, Chad, and Ishida off - and what he says to them about their friendship
Grimmjow's face right after Orihime heals up the piece of skin with his No. 6 tattoo on it - and what he does to Luppi right afterward (rah! Shades of Hakkai and Chin Yisou ... )
Ishida's rules-lawyering his way out of his agreement with his father to help Ichigo
Isshin! With Ryuken! And then both of them sit there uncomfortably, thinking about what rotten fathers they are ... together

Things I really didn't like:

That Rukia couldn't even begin to be effective when she tried to rescue Ichigo from Grimmjow.

All in all, a really great volume.

Saiyuki Musical - First Part of ""Be There" Arc

2009-05-29T11:47:01Z

This is surprisingly addicting, even though I can't understand much more than the character's names and a very few words (like onna - "woman"):

Hakkai (well, Gonou in these scenes) is completely adorable, and the scene where he's telling his story to Gojyo is quite close to the manga, I think - complete with Gojyo holding up his pinkie yakuza-style to mean a woman when he asks about the person Gonou has lost.

Happy Birthday, a_mael !

2009-05-28T11:06:29Z

I hope you have a wonderful day!

My Glasses Just Broke!

2009-05-25T15:58:35Z

One of the temple pieces snapped clean through, right up next to the hinge.

The Mr. is trying to superglue them, but I don't hold out much hope. It's a very small surface area.

I am wearing my old glasses ... I can feel an eyestrain headache coming on already.

Getting into Other People's Stories

2009-05-18T11:59:35Z

To me, one of the strangest things about the reactions of some of the SF&F fans to Racefail (one summary) and Mammothfail (one summary) is their complete lack of willingness to try to put themselves in the shoes of the fans of color who have been hurt and angered by these incidents.

Think about it: we're talking fans of a genre that considers it a pleasure to read or watch works that put the reader into the minds of fantastic or alien creatures. Whether you're talking about Vulcans, Kzinti, and Atevi, or or elves, dwarves, and youkai, science fiction and fantasy readers like to get inside different types of minds.

Or at least, they say they do. But if that is the case, why do some of them find it so hard to get inside the heads of members of their own species who happen to have a different life-experience? If you're going to get involved and excited about the troubles and tribulations of fictional beings, the least you could do would be to make the same effort with your fellow human beings in this world we share - and not greet each exclamation of pain and dismay with "I don't see why that's a problem" or "It's just a story - stop whining."

Here are some stories to get you started. Some of them may be familiar, but perhaps others of them may be new to you:

Stories of Native American children and parents, and their encounters with the usual U.S. school curriculum and "classic" U.S. children's books, among other things
Many, many stories by people of color the world over are reviewed and tagged for you at 50books_poc, so that if SF is your passion, you can find that, and so on.
The Remyth Project, in which people of color take back the myths that other groups have appropriated and use them creatively.
The justly famous essay Shame, in which African American writer Pam Noles takes us back to her fantasy- and SF-loving childhood.
I Didn’t Dream of Dragons, in which the Indian-born author remembers, with love and pain, the effect of reading Western mainstream fantasy during her childhood.

And throughout the day today, at the newly created community Fans of Color United, you'll find many more stories posted.

Stories are important. Stories, in fact, are life. Read. Learn. Grow.

Silly Useless Intarwebs!

2009-05-16T03:37:29Z

All sorts of crud posted up there, and not one diagram of the lower decks of a PT boat! Honestly!

Tagging Fail

2009-05-14T20:07:41Z

Went to http://everystockphoto.com to get a picture of someone weeding for an article on being active (weeding was one of the non-sports activities listed).

Searched on weeding. In search results, found many pictures of people of many ages, all dressed up.

After some consideration, realized that someone meant to tag those wedding instead.

Happy Birthday qe2 !

2009-05-14T10:36:57Z

I hope your birthday plans are coming to delicious fruition!!!

Something Beautiful Is Happening ...

2009-05-13T11:22:32Z

See this.

I keep running back to see how it's growing. One of the loveliest things about it is how many of these fans got the bug from their parents or other family members.

(Do read and follow the original poster's caveats/directions in the main post, however, if you are tempted to respond.)

Some Interesting Military History Links ...

2009-05-11T22:49:56Z

... from an article I was writing for Asian Pacific Heritage Month:

Web Site of the Go for Broke National Education Center
The "Go for Broke" Regiment Lives Duty, Honor, Country (American Forces Press Service)
Asian Pacific Americans: Going for Broke (Experiencing War: Stories from the Veterans History Project, Library of Congress)
Go for Broke! (Soldiers - The Official U.S. Army Magazine, November 2003 - warning: very large PDF)
The Hawai'i Nisei Story: Americans of Japanese Ancestry During World War II (University of Hawaii, in cooperation with Nisei veterans)

Happy Birthday, jedishampoo !

2009-05-11T11:37:18Z

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday andmydog !

2009-05-09T12:24:44Z

I hope you are having a lovely Saturday!