Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Rann Aridorn's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, November 26th, 2009
1:38 pm	so full in pain totally happy (Comment on this)
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
12:46 am	Manga as a... well, it's not really a genre so much as a sort of, uh, medium... but anyway, it has its own set of stylistic tropes. The stereotype of something "looking like manga" is both right and wrong, in that while the actual artistic styles are often wildly diverse, often much moreso than western comic artists (in general anyway), you can still pretty much look at something and think "Yup, that's manga." The Chinese and Korean equivalents that we're steadily seeing more of have learned and adapted these well. (Korean being the more common.) Most of the differences have to do with story style, and the artistic style differences often seem more... organic. More developed on their own, I guess, while still following the general style. The problem with manga-style American products (and not just art incorporating Japanese-ish stylistic cues, I mean the stuff specifically designed to be as much like manga as possible) is that the adaptation isn't organic. Basically, rather than working within the medium, American artists tend to attempt to imitate the medium. I think I've mentioned before that often one of the biggest tipoffs for spotting manga done by an American is that it looks more like anime than it does manga. You can usually see the process when a manga becomes adapted to anime, where features often tend to round out and become somewhat exaggerated, definitive color schemes are applied, etc. American stuff tends to look like the reverse, like someone tried to take an anime design and make it into manga. Also, because of the time period in which a lot of these artists were growing up reading the real thing, you wind up with things like a mix of the sketchy detail that you often saw in slightly older manga for certain things (bodies in motion are most plagued by this) and too much focus on details that are considered more important in anime (eyes, hair). The eyes especially are a huge tip-off... because anime characters' eyes generally are bigger than their manga counterparts, since you have to convey emotions and expressions on the move rather than devoting all the looking-time you want to it on the page. American-made manga eyes typically look like anime eyes, just rendered into greyscale. It also gets even more obvious when the publishers are attempting to go whole-hog, and thus have it drawn and/or published in "flipped" style, and thus read as an authentic manga. The panel flow is just not right... Americans don't grow up learning to read that way, and so the panel layout suffers. What we do grow up reading is comic books, and the panel layout often resembles a mishmash of manga and comic style, as does the positioning of word balloons. Winds up being rather awkward. And it gets even worse when you have a separate writer and artist, seems like. The writer will sometimes just write things out as if it were a text story, and then the artist will draw each panel with as many manga stereotype expressions and gags as possible, leaving you feeling like there's a disconnect with what the characters are saying and what they're doing. I dunno why this is. Korea can manage to find its own place within the genre, but Americans just imitate? And badly? What's up with that? (Comment on this)
Friday, November 20th, 2009
10:09 am	You know, this is one of those things that can set my mom off into a funk of fundie-ism? It's really weird. She's always waffled back and forth between having some of the rather goofier religious beliefs and a rather cynical near-nihilism depending on her mood. (Which I think is probably more common than I'd like to think, as the religious stuff tends to pop up whenever she thinks it would support some opinion of hers. Convenient, that.) But man, even mention the idea that Christ was not born on December 25th exactly, and she will be ready to label you a monstrous heathen and start prepping an exorcism. And you don't even have to phrase it as a debunking attempt (which would be lame and pathetic anyway), if you even say something like "Well it's more likely Christ was probably born in the spring" she'll be all "GET YE BEHIND ME SATAN!" Because man, she may not go to church, she may not pray, she may not live her life by Christian values, but by God she knows that Jesus was born on December 25th. Anyway. In other news, I'm trying to be less aggravated by the massive rush to Christmas than I was last year. I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again, so don't get me wrong... I've got nothing against Christmas, period. I'm not one of those snobby whiny emos that yammers about commercialism and false holidays and bullshit like that. I'm just annoyed that people have expanded Christmas until it runs completely roughshod over not just Thanksgiving and Halloween (two other awesome holidays), but now the entire month of September. Remember the saying (is it a saying? I dunno) that Christmas is special because it only comes once a year? Heck, a couple of kids' specials have even posited the idea of every day being Christmas like it was basically Hell on Earth, because oh god turkeys would go extinct. And other stuff. The last few years, that's kind of what's ground my gears... Christmas stopped being once a year, and instead arrived shortly after summer and stayed around until roughly February. You'd have a tough time finding a single houseguest whose murder you wouldn't have pondered the logistics of if they stayed that long, especially if they were only supposed to stay for about a month. But I'm yet again trying to mellow out and cultivate a more relaxed attitude, and doing so towards the small stuff that doesn't matter anyway is as good a thing to work on as any. Who cares when they start playing Christmas songs on the radio? Also, that reminds me, I need to find a good Konata-in-Christmas-hat pic to make a seasonal icon out of. But I'm still not putting that sucker up until the day after Thanksgiving. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
8:18 pm	Hahaha... just watching an ep of Good Eats where Alton refers to the whole umami phrase "too much marketing" and "all smoke and mirrors". Then, on the most recent episode of Next Iron Chef, there he is parroting "umami" over and over again and shilling Kikkoman soy sauce for its rich umami flavor. Alton, for shaaaaaaaame. (Comment on this)
1:36 pm	Y'know, I don't recall if this is on the Supervillain List, but I'mma go ahead and throw it out there: If my plan involves turning normal human beings into my monstrously powerful brainwashed minions, I will make sure that I start with the brainwashing and finish with the endowment of powers. Also, unless it is absolutely necessary for the completion of my evil plans, I still will not attempt to do this to the hero; if I determine it is absolutely necessary to my plan, I will go over my plan one more time just to make sure I'm not missing an option. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, November 9th, 2009
11:35 pm	[23:30] rann: *snickers* But yeah, if I were Kojima, I could insert some little flashes there of Snake at the head of the FoxHound unit, with some of them actually looking... happy. [23:31] arkhaine: (awwwwwwwws) (hehs as he mental-images some Codec conversations, only with the members of FoxHound) [23:32] rann: SNAKE: I can't seem to make the shot! WOLF: Snake, you must fall in love with your target. Learn to adore every move they make, revel in every breath they take. Only then can you snipe perfectly! SNAKE: ... So... do I click the left shoulder button for that, or what? [23:32] arkhaine: (SNIRKS) 23:34] arkhaine: PSYCHO MANTIS: So, Snake, it seems you -do- like playing Suikoden. And Contra, how nostalgic! And.. Hello Kitty? SNAKE: ?! Don't tell me you can actually read my -- ....wait, where are you calling from? PSYCHO MANTIS: . . . SNAKE: Dammit, get out of my room!! >.< (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
4:39 pm	WizChat> Gojira (Bean) says, "My favorite one of those so far is the group that tried to raid a french refueling vessel, got wounded and tried to run so the refueling ship gave chase and captured them ;)" WizChat> Boris says, "That's awesome." WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "Dude, defeated by the French. I'd fight to the death just so I wouldn't have to live with it." WizChat> Gojira (Bean) snickers, "Nah, had to be cool frenchies.  They didnt surrender. WizChat> Theta (Kats) asks, "yeah, but to be caught by a oiler?" WizChat> Theta (Kats) says, "those are truly inept pirates" WizChat> Gojira (Bean) says, "I know.  Insult to injury." WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "Still. In prison I'd tell everyone I stumbled into a judge's house stinking drunk and knocked up his daughter. It'd be less embarrassing." WizChat> Boris says, "It'd be less embarassing to shove their guns up their asses and pull the trigger." WizChat> Boris says, "But it tells you exactly how pansy-ass everyone's been up until we put our foot down and just said no to piracy." WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "'How'd you get in here, bub?' 'I couldn't take the French in a fight.' '... You're my new girlfriend now. Your name is Stella.'" WizChat> Gojira (Bean) exclaims, "Wait, wait.  You were run down by a ship with 12 frenchmen that was full of gas?  And you call yourselves pirates?!?!" WizChat> Boris exclaims, "Whoa! Who knew a little resistance and these guys crumble!" WizChat> Gamera asks, "Maybe they were French pirates?" WizChat> Gojira (Bean) says, "French pirates were badasses from the reports ;)" WizChat> Boris asks, "When?" WizChat> Gojira (Bean) says, "But that was before france become overcome by mass insanity and a refusal to put anyone in any political office that has a shred of sense or honor." WizChat> Boris says, "I was going to say. French badassery ended with Napoleon." WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "Clearly we need to get a Klingon elected President in France." WizChat> Gojira (Bean) snerks, "Oh the mental images that brings up. WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "'YOU MAY TAKE YOUR SHARIA LAW AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR TOKNAR!'" WizChat> Gojira (Bean) exclaims, "What is this spoild grape juice.  I SAID BRING ME BLOODWINE!" WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "During the first meeting of heads of state, he senses weakness from Obama, beats him up, and takes his lunch money." WizChat> Gamera says, "Still think that all international disputes should be solved by stripping the leaders of the countries involved and making them cock-fight it out." WizChat> Theta (Kats) says, "along with his spleen" WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "Then he has to face Michelle in a duel to the death, as I'm pretty sure she's also a Klingon, at least to look at her." WizChat> Manda (The NOMinator!) says, "The resultant point spread on the bat'leth match reinvigorates the economy. ^.^" WizChat> Gojira (Bean) snickers (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
8:37 am	Is it just me, or should rock music designed to be listened to at a volume best described as "permanently damaging" not get political? Like, ever? I mean, it just seems a little... odd... to in one song talk about drinking the blood of priests and nuns, and how awesome it would be to build a throne made out of baby skulls from which to direct your demon armies to rape the world, and in the next song tell us all how George Bush is a very bad man? (Comment on this)
Monday, October 26th, 2009
8:28 pm	*snorts at an insurance commercial* "He decided to have it insured, so we appraised it. It turned out to be much more valuable than he thought. Good thing, too, since a week later his house burned down!" Yeaaaah, how about that? Geez, guys, if you're not trying to give people ideas with these cheery, naive commercials, you sure come off that way. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
1:22 am	Ah-hu~h. Piracy is evil and wrong and sinful and wrong and vile and wrong and it's a destructive subculture that's like a cancer to the internet. But cub porn? It's AWWWWWWWWWWWWRIGHT! It's so wholesome and above-board, and does such totally awesome things for the furry fandom's perception in the world! Truly, we can all relax. The furry lolicons and shotacons are here to save us from bittorrent and image boards. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
6:53 pm	[18:48] falaris: did I tell you I joined an all-mithra linkshell on FFXI? [18:48] rann: Yus [18:49] falaris: god man they really really want people to watch Jay Leno [18:49] rann: o.o;;; [18:49] falaris: no I mean advertising [18:49] rann: Oh. 'Cause that was kinda surprising. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 9th, 2009
8:59 am	Good, Obama, you look kind of Yasr Arafat. Seriously, is there anyone out there who's still stupid enough to think the Nobel Peace Prize means anything? It's been awarded to literal terrorist leaders more than once, though more often to Left-wing celebrities. It's basically the Nobel Jew-Killing/Popular Left-Wing Personality Award at this point. I'm sure the news will be full of this for days, though. Maybe CNN can run it right along reruns of their fact-checking an SNL skit. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
10:11 pm	It's hard to decide whether to be more angry or more sad at stuff like this. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
7:27 pm	God DAMN. Tenille on Hell's Kitchen used to have only two volumes... Loud and Louder. She's recently discovered a new volume: Air Raid Siren. FUUUUUUUUUUUU- I have never wanted anyone to lose more than I want her to lose this contest. ... Well, maybe Obama... Oh, also, the bank across from my office got robbed today, or something. Dunno. Also there is like a little colony or something of lizards at the back door of the office. Leopard geckos, I'd guess. Most of them are probably just under an inch long at biggest, all pretty small. But I saw one on the wall today that was at least as long as my middle finger, maybe longer. I was gonna use my phone to snap a photo, but by the time I finished locking the door he'd disappeared somewhere. Update: And sheeeeeeeeee's OUTTA THERE! (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
2:57 pm	A few other odd manga recommendations: Rappi Rangai Feudal Japan fantasy setting. A shota with a horn has been beat up and dismissed all his life, before he finds a hot girl ninja half-drowned and rescues her. She eventually reveals he's the bastard son and last heir of a noble house, and she and two other kunoichi are going to help him reclaim the house's former status. Lots of fanservice and silly stuff. Ping Martial arts manhwa. A reincarnated cute girl martial artist, a guy with the ability to use the techniques of others as long as they're touching him, and various other fighter-y types run around beating the shit out of each other. Lots of pretty girls and pretty boys. Possibly the only "fighting team" comic I've seen where the duo activates their special ability by the girl climbing on the guy's back and controlling him like a robot. (Also, Korea seems to be really fascinated by the concept of "guy and girl share a mystic bond that lets one of them power up and beat the crap out of people". Even moreso than Japan. It turns up a lot.) The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer Sort of like FLCL if applied to the "gathering mystic heroes" genre. Features a mildly sociopathic "knight" college guy being recruited by a lizard to help a Princess save the world... though she personally just wants to save it so she can destroy it herself, as she's totally coocoo for cocoapuffs. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
1:34 pm	Yukari-chan/Kano-kun OTP. I dare you to not root for the lesbian with a glasses-girl fetish. Update: Oh, also, Ootori/Suu. This series is a goldmine of main girl/secondary cast girl ships. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
6:41 pm	Yammering from the idiots "starring" in Stargate: Universe. "I think what Universe has, that the other Stargates don't have, is that it's a character-driven show." "And I think it's SEXY like they're not!" Man, every time they lure me into thinking I might want to watch this, they find some new way to inspire rage and drive me away. (Comment on this)
8:38 am	Last night, waiting for consciousness to fade just before bed, I watched some DVR'd episodes of a new Animal Planet series called Lost Tapes. It's a fiction show, something that probably ought to be on the Sci-Fi Channel, but since all we've got is syphilis that hates us, I guess sci-fi shows now get made by Animal Planet. Lost Tapes is basically "Cloverfield for cryptids". Unfortunately, from what I've seen so far, it's mostly the boring bits of Cloverfield. Where you sit there and watch some group of people yammer to a camera, or jump and look around at sounds they were told would be added in later. (They're also not too subtle about yanking the premise. One of the first episodes, "The Oklahoma Octopus", basically is Cloverfield, tentacles from the water and everything. The group of four is splitting up so some of them can go to college instead of one going to Japan, and they made one of the guys black, but they even made the camera owner LOOK like the main male protagonist of Cloverfield.) In none of the three episodes I watched did you ever get even a momentary full-on glimpse of the cryptid that was scaring the fuck out of everyone... so maybe it's more Blair Witch: The Series than Cloverfield, after all. So, I dunno. It was kinda entertaining. But like with the early parts of Cloverfield, you sit there watching a bunch of people interact, straining your eyes for a glimpse of anything weird and waiting for the action to start. But in the eps I watched there's never really any payoff... no Statue of Liberty head, no glancing up and seeing the Owl Man opening its beak and screaming down into the camera. To break up the lack of action, they've interjected TONS of factoids about animals and the situation... unfortunately, they just serve to make it feel like this show, which direly warns you that it's graphic and possibly disturbing, is still trying to be kid-level educational... and since we've already established that it's a fictional show (they never come right out and say "we're just making stuff up", instead sticking to "this is inspired by the possibility of hidden animals"), you wind up wondering which of the factoids are real and which are just bullshit to bolster the story. The show also breaks for commercials infuriatingly often. "Oop, we've actually squeezed a few minutes of video out of this, and found an excuse to jerk the camera and have it go to static, perfect time for a commercial!" (And what's this "hidden animals" bullshit? If you're going to bombard us with factoids, you could at least assume we're smart enough to absorb the term "cryptids".) Could be a kinda amusing series, and I'll leave it DVR'd a little longer, to see if they just need to find their groove or something. But so far, color me Not Impressed. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 25th, 2009
11:17 pm	Before I head off to bed, thought I'd make a note... I noticed that the Disney Channel, which has already been playing Marvel shows for awhile (X-Men Evolution, among others) has taken all the Wolverine scenes from the old nineties X-Men cartoon and strung them together, rebranded as The Wolverine Chronicles. I imagine the people that rage over every bit of attention Wolverine gets are simultaneously extremely pissed off and ridiculously happy that they get to feel validated, heheh. (Comment on this)
Monday, September 21st, 2009
10:29 am	Today, I am talking like a pirate by talking like myself. Incidentally, I am currently downloading the Daft Punk discography. (Comment on this)