You know, the bad thing about icy, cold weather is that it sucks out all my energy and always leaves me starving. Today, for example. I've barely finished my quota--not counting Clay--and it's already almost 1 AM. I haven't pre-lettered a single page of Skip or Nana b/c to keep myself going, I read manga or fanfic in spare moments while saving and printing. And of course, the English is supposed to begin arriving on Tuesday. So tonight, to take advantage of my blahness and what is left of my post-Clay-pre-English time, I began watching my Donnie Darko Director's Cut DVD.
Ahhh...Donnie Darko. This movie is amazing. It staggers the mind! I wish *I* had thought of it, and that's one of the highest complements I can give. I've seen the theatrical version 5 or 6 times. I've seen this director's cut once, at a Donnie Darko party at Kioko-nai's house. However, since the party consisted of about 12 women, 2 guys, and at least one dog crammed into Kioko-nai's room, I wasn't able to concentrate on the film all that much. But thanks to Rei-chan's Xmas gift to me, I can finally give this version of the film the attention it deserves. And I'm not merely talking about me ogling Jake Gyllenhaal's veiny bicep.
Which I admit, I did do. Along with the rest of his upper-body when it isn't veiled by his clothing. It's been over a year, possibly two, since I last watch this film, so I look forward to rediscovering it. I stopped about 20 minutes in b/c I felt like writing here, which I haven't done in a few days. I could babble on quite a bit about this film, but I think I'll save my comments for after I finish watching it again. I remember Kioko-nai mentioned finding some very interesting theories about the film's meaning online, so I'll probably do some googling once the movie's finished.
If any of you noticed my last friends-only post and were unable to read it, it was the 2nd chapter of my fanfic. Fear not, once it's available for reading on fanfiction.net, I'll post the link here.
I'm hungry again. And it's only been an hour since I ate a bowl of yogurt with two cups of cereal stirred in. >< Cold weather always does this to me!
I'm a bit worried about the arrival of the English. It was originally supposed to be here the week of Thanksgiving, then it was pushed back to between Christmas and New Years, and now it's finally arriving in two days. Theoretically. Apparently, the penciller is the reason it's been so delayed. So the aforementioned artist is...what...two months late finishing his pages? Two and a half? And now, like before, it's up to me to finish ASAP. Bleague. I am so very glad this is the LAST issue. I think this time, I will not touch any pages of the English until my regular daily Clay-Nana-Skip quota is finished. I do have a huge buffer for Nana and Skip, but I need to keep as much of it as possible for when The New Title arrives.
But let's talk about more fun things! For example, the magnificent fanfic I've been reading!! As with almost all things fanfic that I read, it somehow ties into the lj community fanficrants, which I frequent for my own amusement. A few months back, someone mentioned a different lj community, ffnet_goodfic, which is where people can recommend good fanfictions they have found posted at fanfiction.net. This community has two or three posts a week, so it's rather low-traffic, but worth it!! A few days ago, a user rec'ed a Pride and Prejudice fanfic retelling set in the modern world, using rock starts and artists. Don't let that drive you away, it's very good!! Here's the link, for those who might want to try it:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2749813/1/ Ahhhh, an excellent story!! It would make one hell of a movie if they did it right. ^^V I'm in Chapter 9 myself. Lizzie is visiting at Pemberly and has seen Mr. Darcy's good side and met his sweet little sister.
I really was looking forward to celebrating Kioko-nai's bday this evening, but she delayed it for a week b/c of the icy weather. So next Saturday I will finally eat sushi for the first time. I'm a bit leery, as I don't like fish and I don't like raw meat. But I do want to at least try it. Sushi is such a mainstay of Japanese culture, I need to at least be able to say I've attempted to eat it. X_x After the sushi, we will head to a karaoke place in Dallas that has jpop and jrock songs available!! Kioko-nai reserved a room for her party from 8-2. Wheee! 6 hours of singing fun! Heh! I'll be amazed if I know more than 4 or 5 songs, though. I only listen to my movie and anime soundtracks and mp3s, so modern songs--from any country--are only in my lexicon if they've been in something I've watched. X_x I suppose they'll have "classics" like "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. And perhaps some L'Arc classics, too. I have their "Ray" CD memorized, particularly "Hana Sou" and "Silver Shining". It will be most interesting...maybe they'll have the Naruto themes, as well. I do SO love "Harumonia/Harmony" and "Kanashimi o Yasashisa ni". In fact, I think I'll crank up that CD now. ^^V One of the best $35 I've ever spent!!
I suppose I either need to upgrade to the flash-me-with-advertisements versions of lj for more userpics, or go to the paid version. (It's what, $2 a month? Something like that?) Anyway, 6 pics isn't enough. :P
My copy of the Feb issue of Shojo Beat is still not here, as usual. The gripings at the Shojobeat jl comm are continuing without my help. It's rather scary how many people have said they only read the mag for Nana. X_x The general consensus is the non-manga pages are pointless, and that when it comes to content, Shonen Jump is much better. The manga published in NA-Jump is published weekly in J-Jump, so they print several chapters each month in NA-Jump to match the J-Jump rate. The Shojo Beat titles were published monthly in Japan, and monthly here. So at first glance, it looks like the boys are getting more each month.
Technically, they are... And Jump doesn't have all the fashion/beauty nonsense (or the male equivalent) that is foisted upon Shojo Beat readers. The Jump articles are apparently interviews, rewviews, cultural notes, and the stuff that Shojo Beat DID have when it first appeared. Once again, the boys get the good treatment. *sighs* Anyway, one of these days when the comm is quiet I intend to post a Skip Beat! plug. The series is so fun, and beautiful to gaze upon, and unpredictable, and DIFFERENT! I wish they would advertise it more. I see the occasional ad in the back of Shojo Beat books, and the odd blurb in an issue of the mag, and that's pretty much it. In the Dec issue they did give Skip a full-page write up, so I suppose all hope is not lost.
I was reading another one of the books Onee-chan gave me for Xmas, this time the first Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, "The Color of Magic". For those who might not know, Terry Pratchett writes fantasy humor. It's British humor, but it really is FUNNY. But alas, I really AM addicted to manga. About 2/3rds of the way through Mr. Pratchett, I had the burning need to go read Tokyo Boys and Girls. Now that I have all 5 volumes, I can finish the series. XD So I'm in the middle of TB&G v4. Once I finish, I'll switch back to Mr. Pratchett.
No offense, Mr. Pratchett, but if I had forced myself to finish you first, I'd have been so distracted by my need to read manga that I wouldn't have been able to give you the attention you deserve. It's better this way! Now I'll have it out of my system and will be able to grant your prose the proper respect. *nods*
La la la. My brain blanked. X_x Two last bits before I depart: 1. I had to send Uncle Sam a 4-digit check this week for taxes. Joy. This is one of the few drawbacks to being self-employed. 2. I'm tempted to get started on that catalogue of Shojo Beat non-manga content I've been debating for weeks. It might sound incredibly boring and wasteful of my time, but I want to be able to look at it laid out all nicely in a color-coded chart. AND it will perk me right up and help me get some Clay pages done today. Oh yes, I know how my mind works.
And I'm still hungry. Ttaku mo!!! ><