(no subject)

So, earlier today (now yesterday) I watched another episode of Life With Derek.  In it, the main character's girlfriend was planning his sister's birthday party.  He did nothing to help, and when she asked him to, he refused until she begged him to help, at which point, he told her that's what she had to do if she ever wanted anything from him.  Did I mention that this was for his sister's party, in his house, not her sister or her house?  This was supposed to be cute.

I need to train myself to turn off the TV if it's on. 

And Disney Channel, why are you not airing the episodes of Kim Possible I've heard about with the catfights between Kim and Evil Assistant?  Ron isn't as annoying as he first seemed to be, but I'd happily trade his airtime for more Awkward Moments with Kim's parents.

Also, I love Wizards of Waverly Place.  Justin and Little Brother Whose Name I Always Forget are the only brothers on Disney Channel shows who I actually don't want to murder, and even like.  A lot.  And I adore Alex.  And there's mutual appreciation messages with the siblings, not just "sisters need to appreciate their brothers" like the other shows when they bring that in.

I really need to get a new DVD player, don't I?

ETA:  Oh, and I hate Hannah Montana almost as much as Life With Derek.  Possibly more, as I loathe every character in HM (and twitch when I even hear that "Say what?" in commercials) and I like Casey, the hyper competitive stepsister in LWD.

The Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones

Set eight years after Dark Lord of Derkholm, The Year of the Griffin focuses on Derk’s youngest griffin daughter, Elda, as she goes to the wizard university to learn magic. With Mara’s permission, but not Derk’s. As soon as the tours ended, Querida went on vacation and turned the university over to Corkoran, a charismatic wizard, but also a slacker who spends his time obsessing over being the first man to walk on the moon.

Unfortunately, the university has even bigger problems than Corkoran. For one thing, the last forty years were spent turning out as many functional wizards as possible to be tour guides, but only training them to be that, nothing else. The new teachers, having been trained that way themselves, don’t know how to teach their students to be anything else, and so only the rudimentary basics are taught. The other problem is that, without the tours, the university has no funding. So Corkoran devises a plan to invite students from rich families to study at the university. Except that, when those students arrive, they come with absolutely no money, but with a lot of eagerness to learn. They also each come with a host of problems, including curses, angry parents, and a multitude of assassins.

The book is largely focused on the hijinks of Elda and her new friends as they deal with each other’s problems and the university’s incompetent staff, and start learning the magic and theories that used to be taught on their own.

I don’t think it was as good as Dark Lord of Derkholm, but this was extremely fun, despite a slightly rushed ending. I think, though, that I’m starting to burn out on fantasies set in a school, no matter how interesting and/or fun the school is.

Wishlist

STEP ONE

Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun to medium to really big. The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, or link to this post so that the holiday joy will spread.


STEP TWO

Surf around your friends list (or friends of friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:

If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

MY WISHLIST

1. Wallpapers. The laptop currently has the default wallpaper it came with. I’m fond of the Samurai Deeper Kyo wallpaper on the computer, but it’s been there for about a year and a half.

2. A home-burned DVD. Manga. Anime. Asian dramas. US TV. BBC. Bollywood. (I’ve still only seen Asoka and the Harry Potter ripoff, and need to see more. Preferably of the Asoka variety.) Samplings (not entire series, especially if it’s licensed) of things you think I might like but don’t think I’ve read/seen. (If it’s not legally available in the US and you want to send the whole thing, that’s ok.)

3. Home-made edible things: jam, cookies, anything that will travel. (I stole this one from rachelmanija)

4. LJ icons.

5. Recommendations for fiction. Also fanfic. Or write me fanfic. (Yes, I know my insane pickiness might make that one a little scary.)

6. If you truly wish to give me material things that cost more than materials and postage, Amazon gift certificates. Possibly, I will also clean up my wishlist over the next few days and link to it.

manga: The Demon Ororon: The Complete Collection (vols 1-4)

When Chiaki, a young woman who’s been plagued by spirits her entire life, finds a wounded young man on the streets in the rain, she takes him home. Rather like a stray cat. There, the young man reveals himself to be a demon named Ororon, and tells Chiaki that she is not a medium, as she’s always thought, but the offspring of an angel and a human, a being that isn’t supposed to exist. Soon, Chiaki learns that Ororon is actually the king of Hell, but has grown tired of the job, and the two must deal with those after Chiaki’s power and Ororon’s head, including his own brothers.

The series starts well, and is wonderfully moody and gothic. My usual “but why on Earth would these immortal angstmuffins even be interested in these girls?” hangup doesn’t seem to apply when angels and demons are involved and the whole bit with Chiaki hating killing and Ororon not knowing how to do anything else started well. Unfortunately, the series soon turns into seemingly endless fights and explosions as more and more people came after Ororon. That started off well, actually, with Othello, Ororon’s half-brother who rules Hell’s armies, Ororon’s maid, Lucy (possibly the most awesome maid ever) and Shiro and kuro, two cat demons who originally wanted to eat Chiaki, but switched sides when they learned her boyfriend could eat them for breakfast.

But as soon as Ororon and Chiaki’s allies were in place, it became an endless stream of enemies coming after Ororon. Chiaki’s story and Chiaki and Ororon’s relationship as a plotline were pushed to the side. I wanted them to investigate the mystery of her parents and for the books to go into the politics of Heaven and Hell, and what it meant for the king of Hell to be in love with the offspring of an angel and a human (especially once we learned what that made Chiaki) but instead it was endless fights and “to kill or not to kill” angsting.

The action is hard to follow. The art is interesting, with oddly elongated bodies that strangely work, character designs that remind me a bit of Kazuya Minekura’s art in the faces, and some very interesting uses of blacks and whites, but it’s also very stylistic, and the panel layouts aren’t that great. They’re easy to follow in non-action scenes, but the fight scenes are very hard to follow, and there are a lot of them. Increasingly gory ones, at that.

( ending spoilers )

Still, it has an interesting premise and characters, and a lot of themes I like, it just lost focus after a strong beginning. Everything set-up in roughly the first two volumes is great, and then it gets off-track. I should also mention that it has one of the more interesting cases of manga eye loss that I’ve encountered. From what I can tell, the mangaka’s other licensed works deal with similar themes. Overall themes, not the eye loss. Or maybe both. Are they worth checking out, or should I just reread Angel Sanctuary, and maybe read more Angel Diary? (Not that I won’t end up doing those two anyway.)

For that matter, what other manga and manhwa are out there that deal with angels and demons and the politics of Heaven and Hell that I might be interested in? (Though things that actually resemble the Judeo-Christian versions don’t seem to work for me. But the less they resemble anything I’m familiar with…)

Claymore Ch 86

( $(&$$%^@$%^$%^$%&%&!$#^%&%&%^^#$!^@%&$%&#%^&%^&#%& )

Don't mind me. I'll just be spending the next month in a fetal position over in the corner.

(no subject)

Somebody up-to-date on Claymore (as in, today's chapter) should be on IMs so I can angst at them.

ETA: Spoilers in comments.

(no subject)

What's this I hear about LJ and 195 icon slots?  I don't see any new ones!