random things to make a post

1.  LJ will be down for several hours during the day tomorrow while they move servers.  Details here.

2.  The taiwanese live action adaptation of Skip-Beat starring Ariel Lin and Jerry Yan has been officially confirmed.  TWdramas seem to always age characters from high school age to college age, so I'll probably be able to go with Ariel Lin as Kyoko, and I can easily see her with Kyoko's energy, but Jerry Yan...I can maybe picture him as Sho, as he had that "cocky and I think I'm all that but actually I'm kinda dumb" air that I associate with Sho in Meteor Garden, but I'm not sure I'll be able to buy him as Ren, unless he spent the last 5 or so years doing nothing but taking acting lessons.  It has been several years though, so I'll be optimistic.  (But if they age Kyoko, what will happen to Ren's  "Woes!  My love is wrong and I must hide it and constantly stare my angst at her without her having a clue what is going on in my head!" angst?)

3.  rightstuf.com is having a sale on Dr. Masters products, ending Wednesday.  I suppose I should get some of Four Constables read by then.  And I need to renew my membership.  Not much more from this sale that interests me, though this could be interesting, and I can strongly anti-rec Real/Fake Princess.  That one is your typical "royal princess raised by loyal retainers and unaware of true identity, taken back to palace when things are safe and romance comes with the guy who has to test her to see if she's the real one."  Sounds pretty typical, but at only 5 volumes, it could be fun.  With the setup, I expect the guy to be something of a jerk and suspicious until he figures out that she's the real thing.  What I don't expect is that, about 1/3 through the first volume, she will object to having her hair cut and he will wrestle with her, violently pin her to the bed, shove the scissors in her face, and tell her that if she doesn't obey him, he'll hunt down the adopted brother who raised her (and is a loyal subject) and stab him through the heart with the scissors.

4.  Not for me, but to be passed on: anyone have any recs for supernatural or historical BL or shoujo along the lines of the works of Hoshino Lily?  I don't exactly read BL and am not familiar w/ the mangaka's works, but I figure some of you likely have manga you can rec.

Lirael by Garth Nix

Lirael is a young woman of the Clayr, a race of seers, who has not gained the Sight years after most Clayr do. At fourteen, she finally finds a rescue of sorts from her life as a semi-outcast when it’s arranged for her to works in the library of the Clayr. This is a library where you have to have keys to access dangerous parts, need to worry about random things grabbing you from the shadows, and part of the dress code is a knife and a whistle attached to your clothing where all you have to do to reach it is turn your head, because something in the library may have grabbed your hands. Naturally, I am in love with the library. There, she magicks her key to let her into forbidden areas and spends years exploring the library and learning old magics, including summoning a Free Magic construct named Disreputable Dog who becomes her friend and companion.*

Elsewhere in the kingdom, Sameth, the son of Sabriel and Touchstone, has the opposite problem: he’s expected to become Abhorsen after his mother. Lirael wants a purpose and role but doesn’t have one. Sameth knows his purpose and role, but doesn’t want it. Initially, I didn’t get why people had so many problems with him. He was less interesting than anyone else in either book and a bit whiny, but not bad. Then he started whining about being expected to be Abhorsen, and planning to reject it**, and my tolerance ended. Characters whose problem is that they have responsibilities and roles they have to live up to but try to get out of it are a pet peeve of mine, and not something I can sympathize with if peoples’ lives and livelihood depend on it, and they’ve known about it for years. A ten or twelve year old kid who suddenly finds out he or she has the weight of the world on their shoulders I can sympathize with. But I figure someone in their late teens-or older-should get over it and do what needs to be done. (This is why many angsty woobies are characters I think need to just shut up and deal.) Really, he has pretty cool parents (granted, his father started out rather bland, but not whiny or responsibility-phobic) and his sister seems to have turned out well, if a little overbearing, so I’m not quite sure what went wrong there. I’m much more interested in his sister, and in his friend, Nicholas, who crossed the wall and is getting into trouble due to a run-in with a necromancer.

I can see now why some people commented that Sabriel was mostly set-up for Lirael and Abhorsen. Sabriel was a good, straight-forward adventure, while Lirael is grander in scope, and more about personal journeys and growth. I like both, but am more partial to narratives along Lirael’s lines as they more open to exploration and growth, even if they are more likely to make characters irritating at times.

( spoilers )

No spoilers for or hints about Abhorsen in comments.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow Vol 5

( spoilers )

Kaze Hikaru Vol 3

This series is doing what other series about the Shinsengumi, as much as I’ve enjoyed them, hasn’t: it’s making me want to research the Shinsengumi. But I shall resist this urge. I already know enough to know it’ll likely end up depressing me about what’s coming.

( spoilers )

No spoilers for future volumes in comments without the spoiler code.