Lissiel's Journal

It's been a while since I had something to post, so. SPAM!

1. We saw Elizabeth: The Golden Age last night. ( Generally, I liked it. )

2. I wrote an essay about the Faerie Queene today, and only used the word "whore" twice and never had to use the words "penis" or "misogyny". I feel accomplished. <3

3. My strawberry plants! They have little green berry-lets on them! Eee! *thrilled*

4. I've mentioned, lately, things like wanting to have candles in case the power goes out or a first-aid kit for my car or an out-of-state emergency contact, yeah? And a lot of people have been kind of like..."that's weird. Why would you do that? Are you a crazy person now?" And, I mean... Aside from the fact that when you spend as much time walking into things/scraping yourself up/ getting random headaches/whatever as I do, you'd have to be crazy NOT to want tylenol and band-aids on you. *lol* For one thing, what does it hurt? And for the other, well...

I think I've mentioned to anyone who'd read this that sometimes I have nightmares, yeah? ( cut for those who don't care ) Long story short, I'm not crazy, and this is probably a pretty safe thing to humor me on, for those who were wondering. :D

5.Camping! This summer! Anybody interested? It'd be fun to do a family-oriented kinda thinger, but it'd also be fun to do a people-our-age kind of thing too-- burn some marshmallows into irrecognizablity, roast some corn-on-the-cob? Eeeh? come on you all know you want to

Went down to Monterey this weekend, had a really nice easter. Got to be with my whole family (minus danny. D:). We got together at Robatas for dinner Friday night, and sam slept over with us at tia's house--in his own bed, all night long, didn't give us any trouble at all because he's very good--then went to the preserve for brunch, and it was yummy and nancy came and sam found about 99.9 bazillion eggs. Then we all went to Meme's house and hung out with her and papa. They just had to put down their dog, so they've been having a rough time, and I think they enjoyed the company. And Tiana--jeez, after all this time being so careful not to show or mention my tattoo because I knew Papa would freak out and I didn't want to upset him? Tiana leaves hers showing, and sure enough what's the first thing out of her mouth when he sees and starts to freak? "Misha's got one too!" orz. I was thiiiiiiiis close to killing her outright.

*huff*

Then we came home and ( watched some movies )

Then we picked up some herbs and strawberries and a little cherry-tomato starts, which I will hopefully not kill before we get to eat from them, which should be fun. <3 I like playing in dirt.

Altogether a very nice start to spring break.<3

How you can tell you've spent too much time studying lately: it's almost dawn and you're so used to staying up you're not even tired yet. *headdesk*


Things that are happy-making, in no particular order:

Spring Break! Whoot. Hanging out with people, and seeing family and going to the Egyptian Museum, and maybe a puppy. :D Good times, good times.

Tomorrow Matt is coming over for dinner, and we're gonna have fondue, and maybe play some Smash Brothers or watch a movie or something.

I got back all but one of my midterm papers and tests, and so far the lowest I've gotten has been a 91%. Rock. After the way I screwed around my first year of college, I thought my GPA was pretty well shot, but SJSU doesn't carry over GPA from your previous institutions, so if I can make straight A's this semester, that means I'm rockin a 4.0. Sweet deal.

My Age of Elizabeth teacher is taking suggestions on the historical fiction we're going to read at the end of class, y'know, "look at the cover, read the blurb on the back, check the number of pages, and let me know if you find something that looks good." She specifically told us to go look for one that was "hot". "Think how much faster it'll read if there's a lot of sex!" she tells us. I hunker down over my desk and laugh until I can't breathe. Oh man, such a crush on her. <3

Meine Liebe. Looking at the character design, you'd swear this would devolve quickly into big big yaoi plotlessness, but it actually ends up being gratifyingly political and fun, and the characters are interesting if somewhat juvenile (well, it IS a school-anime, so I shouldn't be suprised, and the adults are REALLY interesting). *shrugs* I enjoyed it, and will definitely watch the first season if I can find it somewhere. Loveless this is not, but still pretty good.

Poked more at the Cyberpunk!Mercenaries story I was working on. Eh. You'd think heist-fic would be exciting to write. I dunno. My characters still want to just sit around and talk instead of actually doing anything, and the pacing=fail. *sigh*

Midterms. Argh. For the record? Everyone ever hates Leviticus. Even G-d hates Leviticus.

In better news! Awesome things!

1. Tiny little houses. I don't know what about these I love so much, except that they just seem so cozy and easy and you could take them anywhere. /gypsy

b.Alien Lolcat alksdhghak You guys. I don't even know what torchwood is. Just. ALIEN LOLCAT. a;lsjdghga. Go read it.

III.Space 1889: The Adventure Of Le Cirque De Venus A Victorian Ball in Space. Steampunk FTW. You all have no idea how much I want to get a group together for this. *puppy eyes*

Four. Michael's Birthday. Went to the Melting Pot for slightly expensive but really really good fondue dinner (cute place with good service too, btw. I'd definitely recommend it for those of you who might have a date to impress at some point), and then went to see Diary of the Dead after. ( Good date movie, Y/Y? )

YOU ALL HAVE TO STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW AND GO WATCH THE BEST MOVIE EVER.

Destroy All Robots! and don't forget to watch the outtakes too!

WATCH IT OR REGRET IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Y'know, like ( Punky Elf-girls Riding the Train! )

I really like this genre: an otherwise completely realistic (if frequently somewhat dystopian) setting that also includes elements of traditional fantasy/fairytales! It's frequently featured in the novels and short stories of Neil Gaiman, as well as the World of Darkness role-playing games. It's related to but not the same as cyberpunk! I really wish I knew where to find more novels/graphic novels/games/etc. that featured it. :(

Um?

Went and saw Cloverfield tonight. Holy shit. I am so motion sick. *Is green* But very very impressed.

( Click here for the rest of the review. )

That said? Sam will really really like this film, in a few years. Don't even think about taking him to see it now, though. That would be trauma on a massive scale. Everyone else I suggest should go see it right now.

If you've ever:
Owned a Mac
Wanted to Own a Mac
Seriously Considered Jacking your Friend's Mac
Owned a PC
or
Uttered the Phrase "Goddamned Stupid-ass Piece of Crap."

You should go read this fic based on the Mac vs. PC commercials, from Yuletide. It's really smart, and funny, and makes hilarious jokes at Vista's expense.

So, I'm getting on a plane tomorrow and coming home!! YAAAAY!!! And those of you who've had the misfortune of trying to travel with me know how utterly neurotic I get right before I have to walk out the door for that kind of thing, because I'm convinced I've forgotten something and OMG YOU CANNOT BUY TOOTHBRUSHES IN CALIFORNIA IT WILL BE THE END OF THE WORLD OMGOMGOMG!!!1.

So, in the spirit of not going through my packing a fourth time and having to re-do it again, I bring you a brief intro to Arashi, with more reasons to love them (for those of you who weren't listening the first couple of times, omgseriously why don't you all love them as much as I do yet??? T^T?)

The thing about Arashi that makes them very very different from anything in the American market, as far as I'm concerned, is that they're happy. American musicians sing about smacking up their hos and shooting police, or their slutty girlfriends cheating on them, or how their women hate them and such? Arashi's song lyrics are all "It's definately going to be all right" or "In the next five years, who will be by my side? It'll be the five of us, again. <3" (Yes, matsujun wrote a song about how much he loves his bandmates. Seriously. They are all so wooby.)

American Stars go on drug binges and star in reality shows where they sleep their way through the household and scream inebriated obscenities at each other on the lawn? Arashi does shows about visiting cranky old people, and taking care of little kids so their parents can go on dates. But they're not all sweetness and light. They ARE twenty-something boys, who've been friends since they left home at about ten. Nothing delights them quite as much as making each other do COMPLETELY ABSURD, BIZARRE THINGS. Like the one time they made ohno go to an okama bar. :Db

The short answer is: THEY ARE HUGE DORKS AND YOU SHOULD LOVE THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE HILARIOUS.

( The long answer is under this cut, with picspam and youtube links. Seriously, you guys. )

*To be continued*

This might be a dumb question, but...this site? It's a joke, right? I mean... the "product" kind of looks clay-molded, and I kind of can't believe that something this cruel and dehumanizing could be real, so I'm kind of hoping that it's an art project or a societal critique of some sort. But, usually with that sort of thing? They include a little "just kidding!" disclaimer somewhere on their site, and I'm... just not seeing it anywhere.

( Slightly disturbing image under the cut )

Hopefully, it's a joke. Either way, it creeps me the hell out, kind of a lot. O.O

So, White Wolf just put out a new version of Changeling recently. It's got a few bumps, but the main premise looks cool and much more playable than the old version. The idea is that you play humans who were stolen by fae as very small children, kept by freakishly alien beings for twenty years or so, and then finally manage to escape back to the real world only to realize you've been so changed by the experience you can't-for one reason or another- go back to your original life, and what you do with that. There's a good review of the game here.

I haven't run a campaign in a while, but this one looks like it could have some fun issues to play with. I know some people from my old gaming group follow this journal. Anyone think this sounds interesting enough to give it a try when I get home?

/Edit:ARGH, HAWAII. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Why is it that I can go to TWO SEPARATE major book retailers and completely fail to find either 1) a single horror OR sci-fi OR fantasy novel that didn't suck to read on the plane or 2)Any of the five sourcebooks for the new changeling game? Or any gaming books other than like... the 1986 version of Dungeons and Dragons? Fail. Just. Go stand in your corner.

Seriously, do you WANT me to go buy my books from the communists? Get it together, or I really will.

In honor of the fact that my interview actually went pretty well (even though I was so terrified I babbled like an idiot at the beginning) and I'm not that worried about my presentation tonight or my finals next week, and that the college app looks like it's maybe going to be ok after all, and best of all, that it's like... ten days until I get to see everyone again, have an awesome song:

"I'm yours"- Jason Mraz
It's so happy and laid-back and just. Love. Go download it and listen to it. Your day will be better for it.


Before the cool done run out
I'll be giving it my bestest
Nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours


For those of you who don't want to download without hearing it first, you can hear it here, with bonus adorable hostclub video-ness.
Invalid video URL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOVV2Qvf2is&feature=user

Invalid video URL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4POpGXm0AQ&eurl=http://lj-toys.com/?journalid=563452&moduleid=8&auth_token=sessionless:1195855200:embedcontent:563452%268iurl=http://img.youtube.com/vi/-4POpGXm0AQ/default.jpg

In the continuing tradition of responding to trauma with the need to tramatize EVERYONE ELSE JUST AS BAD. I want to unsee this.

/Edit: Omg, you guys. It's like, some sort of...genre. O.O

Hope everyone is having fun, eating good food, and not killing their family. :P

/Edit: If anyone is looking for a really good anime to watch, might I recommend "Saiunkoku Monogatari (Tale of Saiunkoku)"? It's... The first episode isn't very confidence-inspiring, and the main character has a bad case of "everyone's in love with me"-itis, but those are the ONLY bad things I can think to say about this show. AND IT HAS WOMEN! PLURAL WOMEN! WHO DO ACTUAL STUFF! AND TALK TO EACH OTHER! ABOUT STUFF OTHER THAN MEN! *ded of luv* Also, it's full of awesome political plotting, and a very subtly absurd sense of humor, and the art is sooo pretty. And the womenz. <3 YOU GUYZ. Go watch it right now, seriously.

Invalid video URL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzHpCOPsVbo

The intro to the new game Michael and I are playing. We're only playing in little bits, whenever we both have free time, so we're not very far yet, but... it's so shiny, guys. Seriously. Atlus does such brain-breaking games (this is the same company that made the cannibalistic demons game I was playing before), and the art is so pretty and cool-looking, and the plot (as much of it as I know yet) is really interesting and involved. You play half of the time, during the day, as a normal highschool kid, answering questions in class, going to clubs, talking to girls, and all that, building friendships, right? And whenever a friendship gets stronger, you gain points associated with a certain tarot card. Then at night, you go fight these evil blobby things that eat people's souls, using demons who are themselves tied to a tarot card: so the stronger your friendships with townspeople during the day, the stronger your demon-fighters are at night. <3 Did I mention that you summon your fighter-demons with things that look like--but are repeatedly stated not to be--guns? Yeah. So messed up and broken.

Also, there's all sorts of subtext implying that this game is going to end up being some sort of metaphor about mental illness (kind of like Digital Devil Saga ended up being a metaphor for preforming the kundalini and achieving enlightenment) but I can't talk intelligently about that yet, so early in the storyline. I. Um. Might think too much about my pop culture.

Invalid video URL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9xLEtWJ4Pc

Watch at least the first cartoon. It's cute. What are you loves planning for halloween this year?

/edit: if anyone needs to get in touch with me? My phone charger is suddenly not working. I have no idea. I'm working on it. But in the meantime, if it's urgent, I'll keep an eye on my email? Sorry kids.

/edit 2: My halloween costume came today, after a week-and-a-half. It's now five days until halloween. They sent me a teens medium instead of an adults medium, which means it's about four sizes too small. This face I'm making? Not my happy face.

Because September is TOTALLY early enough to start getting excited. Forget you guys, at least it's better than when I was doing it in June. :P *lol*

I think everyone under the age of thirty who has a soul has seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, yes? If you were too old to mess with 1993 kids movies or were hideously abused as a child and never got to see it, I've posted a link to the song in question up on Youtube in my Halloween Music Videos post.

The awesome thing? Panic!At the Disco, one of the most awesome bands in the history of ever (though, sadly, not quite at Arashi's level of pure win) did a new cover of "This is Halloween" that, while not as different from the original movie-version as might be hoped and thus sounding more like really good karaoke and less like an actual cover, is still a pretty darn sweet way to wallow in the otherwise sadly lacking Halloween spirit for three minutes.

Another cover Michael found and showed me this evening, of the same song, was by Marilyn Manson. Which. I mean. It was really good! They changed enough little things that you really feel like you've heard a new take on the theme, which is really what doing covers is all about right? It's just. It's Marilyn Manson singing tunes from a kid's show. It just. No. Does not compute. *headdesk*

Also? I bought candy corn at the store today when I went to get stuff for dinner to spite the store for not having pumpkins yet. Because I'm devious like that. Also, it was there.

It was delicious.

So, so today? Total hearts. Here's why:

1. I got my third-to-last prompt-pic done over on mitsuhachi. It's not great, but it's done. Also, I will maybe be able to combine my last two prompts and have time to do something that doesn't suck! <3 Plz to keep your fingers crossed.

2. My refrigerator is all cleaned out and ready to be left alone for a month while I go home. Likewise most of the deep-cleaning. Now there's only last-minute stuff like dishes and laundery and packing. OMGYOUGUYZI'MSOEXCITEDCANYOUTELL????

3. We went to see 1408 today. Overall, it was really good. The story-arc was really tight, and it gets MAD PROPS for using psychological tension rather than gore as it's main thrill. Also, that moment where everything has been normal and then suddenly stuff starts to get weird and no one knows what's going on will never not be awesome and worth sitting through a whole movie for.

My only reservations were that( Cut for minor spoilers ) But even acknowledging those things, it was one of the best horror movies to come out in years and I'd highly recommend it. :>

4. We checked out a new chinese place here in town. It was a little over-priced, but it had REALLY REALLY GOOD vegetarian lettuce wraps, and crab wontons, and we brought some chow mein home (cause we ordered too much; the appetizers were really large portions) which also looks good.

5. We walked all the way home from ward center- Michael thinks maybe four or five miles? I have no idea, I can't measure distance, but it's a pretty decent walk all told, maybe twenty, twenty-five minutes by bus. It was pretty out, and it sprinkled for a little ways and it was not too ridiculously hot, and it felt really good after the movie and our early dinner/late lunch/whatever it was.

6. Then when we got home, I posted the new pic, and Daniel had updated www.Luckylewis.com with my newer work, and his page is totally awesome and you should all check it out.

7. And then I made pancakes. Mecha umai!!!
<--dork.

Last year, about this time, I read this book Melusine on the plane here, yeah? And I spent from about the first chapter on going "...omg, this is terrible. I've never read such terrible writing, this has nothing to do with anything. And...gratuitous girlfriend syndrome! Oh, onventions of the fantasy genre, ilusm. In the special way that involves viscous hate." And yet, couldn't put it down. I read the whole thing in one sitting and then went, "wait, that's the end? That sucked!!! What happened next?! *seethe*"

So my question is, now that I'm looking for new books for girls week and I figure no one else will want to read critical essays in pop culture when I'm done with them, buying the sequel is an awesome idea, y/n?

Also, has anyone read any ellen kushner? I'm told that Thomas the Rhymer and Swordpoint: A melodrama of manners are both supposed to be excellent, but I've never heard of her, and I'd love a second opinion if anyone has one. :/

Lastly? OMG NEW HARRY POTTER. That is all.