Whole Lotta Nothing

The last few months have been so.. blah. Family members getting hopsitalized (my aunt went in not long after my grandfather had just recovered from a close call), work has been killing me, I had to take a second job to keep up with my living expenses, as well as other problems, etc. And the two things I was most looking forward to had to be cancelled. First the World Science Fiction Convention (laugh all you want - dammit, I wanted to go) and then later a birthday fishing trip. I LOVE fishing. Unnnggh. Though one of my friend's was nice enough to bring me back a pin of the Galactica from the con which I wear with nerdish pride.

Things have cooled off again recently, and I'm doing my standard catching up. So you all should expect a lot of comment-bombing in the next few days. Mwahaha. (Or not. Don't worry I know some of you don't like that.)

I was able to see The Invention of Lying last weekend. Flawed but overall it was VERY funny. (The anti-religion message didn't bother me - as opposed to that Family Guy episode with Meg.) I do recommend.

I do a lot of bitching here.

But first, the good:



GECKO MORIA SO FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

How is it that the one with the goofiest, cartooniest (and most interesting) design still manages to come off as such a vicious, crazy and badass motherfucker. And this is on top of the surprisingly sympathetic backstory hinted at. Moria managed to elicit more of an emotional response from me in that one panel where he recalls his crew with a maddened stare, than Hancock did for all her tears and shame over the span of an entire chapter.

Seriously. One of Thriller Bark's greatest flaws was not giving that guy anywhere near enough screentime. Alabasta did a great job of highlighting Crocodile and his actions, but I felt TB came up short with regards to Moria. A bit unsatifsying that the end of the arc would leave me still anxious to see more of him.

So yeah, very happy to see him back in action. Though he likely won't get much attention in the upcoming events, even a few pages would be great.

:ahem:

Akainu is also looking pretty badass. As the long-anticipated "evil" admiral, I hope he won't disappoint whenever he gets his time to shine. I don't think it'll be now, but it was still cool to see him.

Lots of tension built up here. Even with Luffy's all-star crew, I have no idea how he's going to get through that many top-ranking marines. Even if the rest of the Straw Hats miraculously show up in the heat of battle (which I am guessing they will), I don't see any plausible way it can be won. You'd need Whitebeard's forces, the rest of the Emperors, AND Dragon's revolutionary army all participating or providing distractions to make me buy a successful Ace-rescue.

This chapter did a perfect job hyping up what's to come. But then. THAT DUMB ASS REVELATION.

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Well there goes my theory on Roger being Robin's dad. That would've made sense. The timeline, the "late husband" remark and his mysterious work, the black hair.. Eh, but this just means there's going to be another shocking celebrity parent revelation when the identity of her father comes up.

This seems to be the soap opera formula OP has been taking for awhile now.

I gotta stop abandonning this. I guess I'll never be the 'blogging' type.. which suits me just fine I guess. I'd rather just post occasional fandom rants anyway.


Anyways, what is this Helatia(Hetalia?) stuff I see everywhere. I understand the premise: countries represented by people, World War II-era etc. But where can I find the manga and actually read it?

I want to understand why so many people are obssessed with it.

So my brother's in jail. Not the first time, but this is the longest he's ever been kept over. Suffice to say, I was in a bad mood and completely brushed off my friends Friday (which I feel slightly guilty about), but I just.. really don't want to see anyone. He called me last night asking to deliver a message to his girlfriend, then started rambling semi-incoherently about how he never wants to be here again and apologizing, telling me to apologize to everyone. He was struggling not to, but he was crying. GOD I couldn't bear to hear it. It's depressing as hell seeing your big bro break down. But I acted as strong as I could and kept his mind busy 'til the lockdown. I've been feeling a lot of scorn, but also miserable because I want to do something to help because that's my brother, and can't.

Next week I have to visit with the lawyer and will be able to see about bail, but at the moment I'm looking to distract myself in every way possible. Revisiting SF3 has been great for that. I need to get 4.. and a PS3. Drawing has been a fun way to kill time too, and I even pulled out my guitar after X number of years. I really got to try and reserve a certain amount of time for "me" things that do not involve anyone else at least once a week. I've greatly missed alone-time. Not to mention I gotta portofilio due in a few weeks and really should start working on it.

I also still haven't watched ep BSG 417 that I taped Friday night, which is uncanny (I usually watch it the minute I get home) but will be getting to now. It's like putting off eating a delicious piece of cake, refridgerating and forgetting about it, then being delighted to discover it later on when you've got a craving for something sweet. But honestly, coming on the internet not up-to-date is dangerous if you wanna stay as spoiler-free as I have.

Duuuuuuude.

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And a little bit from last chapter:



Okay, besides Nami's adventures on Sky Island: part deux, the other scenario I'm most looking forward to is Zoro/Perona's honeymoon in trippy Transylvania. I mean, I love Usopp/Perona.. but I can't deny that these two; together; alone; and in an abandonned castle is going to be hilarious good fun. And it was kind of cute how she took such good care of him, even falling asleep sitting by his bedside.. Okay, Zoro/Perona is cute, I said it.

But really.. how the hell is the crew going to reunite? Including East/South Blue, they're all over the freaking map.

How about that, after the terrible Amazon Lily arc the next few chapters thankfully look to be good.

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Me and Hakucho talked over the holidays (Winter '07) about doing an interactive project together involving "Doodles" and "Drabbles". Basically we decided together on 20 pairings and then split them up into two kinds of lists.

"Prompt Project" - The first person comes up with a prompt and does a doodle/drabble for it. The second person must come up with their own prompt and drabble/doodle for the same pairing.

"Partner Project" - A shared prompt is chosen. The first person must doodle/drabble something for it while the second embellishes on the first's work: providing a backstory for a doodle, or illustrating a scene from a drabble.

So yeah, woo! Let's see how much of this we'll get done!


Drabbles : hakucho_cygnus - Doodles : loboto

PROMPT PROJECT :

1. Luffy x Nami | Drabble : Sailing - Doodle : Caught off Guard

2. Crocodile x Robin | Doodle : Happy Hour - Drabble

3. Franky x Robin | Drabble : Sunset - Doodle : No Occasion

4. Usopp x Kaya | Doodle : You Came Back - Drabble

5. Pell x Vivi | Doodle : Guardian - Drabble

6. DoFlamingo x Robin | Drabble : All in the Hands - Doodle

7. Mr.5 x Miss Valentine | Doodle : A Day Out Together - Drabble : In the Jungle

8. Usopp x Conis | Doodle : You Look So Funny - Drabble

9. Hatchan x Camie | Drabble : - Doodle

10. Buggy x Alvida | Drabble : My Captain - Doodle

PARTNER PROJECT :

1. Crocodile x Robin x Franky : Those Were The Days | Doodle - Drabble

2. Ener x Nami : Give In To Me | Doodle - Drabble

3. Moria x Hina : Naughty, Nauuuggghty! | Doodle - Drabble

4. Toki x Tashigi : Fandom | Drabble - Doodle

5. Usopp x Nami : We're a Team! | Drabble - Doodle

6. Mihawk x Tashigi : Swords | Drabble - Doodle

7. Mr. 1 x Miss Doublefinger : Clear Cut | Drabble - Doodle

8. Sanji x Kokoro : I Can't Believe I Found You | Drabble - Doodle

9. Wiper x Laki : Girls and Boys | Doodle - Drabble

10. Wapol x Nami : The Chase Scene | Doodle - Drabble


Jul 23 2009: Prompt #3-2 done.

But yeah, back from road trip. I had fun. More of my friends need to get their freaking licences. Seriously.

Some random bits in point form:

- Early on I had some kind of reaction (allergic?) and my face swelled up with little bumps for a few days. It went away but freaked me out a bit since nothing like that's ever happened to me.

- BAR FIGHT #4 (involving friend of mine, his fiance who I'd just met, and random ass)

- I've finally eaten a type of KD that didn't make me retch. Hallelujah.

- I also finally got to see my cousin after 10-11 years. It was weird, because we were still just kids last I saw him, and then it's like 'TIME-SKIP!' It makes me sad thinking about how over half his youth was wasted in prison. Though I think the US penal system is too harsh (he did NOT deserve seven years in maximum security; that's where fucking serial killers go). But he's really turned his life around and gone completely straight, that was amazing to see. Inspiring, too.

- POPEYES!!! (No we don't get that here. Pity us.)

- So. Much. Carding. I had to get re-accustomed to bringing id with me everywhere.

- You can smoke in lounges? Really? Niiice.

- Bagged milk is unheard of. WTF?

- (exchange b/w me and random bartender)

Me: You got any Molson?
Bart: ..Is that a Canadian thing?
Me: Your mom's into Canadian things!

- There were a delightful few places that had shisha!

- Getting weed in the US is the equivalent of a fucking Homeric journey. And OVERPRICED. 40$ for an eigth???

- DC's waterfront is a great chilling hole.

- I have bug bites all over my arms, legs and back. I AM NOT USED TO THIS OMFG IT ITCHES!!!

- Traffic cop got us less than ten minutes before the border.

- There's no place like home.


Oh yeah, I was also given a surprise birthday while abroad. It was just a cake and song, but I was still deeply touched! I've only had one other "birthday surprise" in my life. They really are great, unexpected treats.

I have such mixed feelings about Boa Hancock.

On the one hand YESSSSS NEW SHICHIBUKAI! (loves those guys) AND A SHE-CHIBUKAI TO BOOT! LUFFY MIGHT CONCEIVABLY HAVE A PROPER FIGHT AGAINST A FEMALE FOE!!1

On the other hand, her powers.. erm. I hope there's more to it than using men's desire as a means of turning them to stone. Much as I like the nod to Greek mythology, making her source of power stem from being a temptress is so.. uninspired.

And doesn't the description of that little 'display' between her and the marines seems a bit Alvida-ish? Especially if we can assume that she's going to try and use the same trick against Luffy, which obviously won't work because well, it's Luffy. (Heck none of the Straw Hats besides Sanji and Brook are particularly 'lustful', so I can't see her fruit being effective against any of them.)

However, if her power extends to being able to petrify people exhibiting ANY kind of strong emotion, then well, that's be awesome.


I won't be able to do my usual image-heavy chapter ramble because I'm heading south of the border for a little while (lol road trip), but I hope Boa won't disappoint.

Hope everyone had a great summer. I certainly did. Didn't go anywhere exotic for vacation, or indeed get vacation time off (that comes in October), but I had fun. :)


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