Tuesday randomness.

[nenena]

RE: Paris Hilton

My faith in The System has been completely restored. Thank you, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer. I've never met you in person, I've only read about you once in an AP news article, but I think that I love you.

cleolinda has articulated my exact feelings about Paris Hilton here, and in a much smarter way than I ever could have written.

And what bugs me the most about this is that Ms. Hilton STILL refuses to take responsibility for ANYTHING that she's done wrong. Argh, she reminds me of my worst maturity-challenged students. You know, the ones who will blame their parents, their friends, their dog, institutionalized racism, immigration reform, and the failures of the American/Japanese social support system for the fact that I just caught them cheating on a test by copying answers downloaded onto their cell phones.

But enough about Paris Hilton, who sucks. Here are some memes.

One for me to do: Ganked from sam_chan and meiousei: Name any character I know and I'll tell you three reasons why s/he sucks, whether or not I like that character. You can name more than one character. I like a challenge.

One that I am doing: Ganked from evercool. What's in your bag?

In my backpack is...
* A folder full of schedules and contact numbers for all of the schools that I work at.
* A precious, precious English-language edition of Newsweek that I picked up in Tokyo and am trying to make last as long as possible. Also, an issue of Time, same deal.
* Colored pencils, because I use them for my special-ed students, and I never know if I'm attending a special-ed class until five minutes before class begins.
* An electronic J-E/E-J dictionary.
* An electronic kanji dictionary.
* A bottle of lotion.
* A mail-order form for the Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo Pinky:st figure. (She's so cute!)
* A flash drive.
* An internet cable, because a lot of the places where I work expect me to provide my own.
* Envelopes of various sizes, stamps, clear tape, and some postcards.
* Some spare pens and a black marker.
* An extremely crushed cookie. Oh crap, I forgot about that.
* Emergency feminine hygeine supplies.

And normally my laptop and laptop cord would be in there too, but I'm at home right now using them.

In my purse...
* Wallet
* Camera and carrying case
* Hand lotion
* Hand soap (a necessity in Japan; rarely provided in public restrooms)
* Floss
* A comb
* Nail clippers and a nail file, because hangnails suck!
* My alien registration card
* Phonecards
* A file of business cards that people keep giving me
* My International Driver's License and my Iowa driver's license, because the former is invalid without the latter
* Address book
* Bank book and ATM card
* Emergency feminine hygeine supplies
* A little to-do and shopping list
* Many pens, all colors of the rainbow
* My hanko (signature stamp), ink pad, carrying case, and hanko registration certificate
* Health insurance card and various hospital/clinic ID cards (goddammit Japan)
* Packs of tissues
* Two mirrors. Bwuh, I didn't realize that I had two.
* Makeup.
* My cell phone.

...Yeah. That's all of the stuff that I never leave home without. Apparently I was a Boy Scout in a past life, or something.

Comments

[atelierjoh.livejournal.com]

Very :D I don't care about Tsubasa spoilers.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Okay. Here goes.

Fay/Fai

1. There is a limit to how much tragedy can be piled upon one character. Even CLAMP usually observes that limit. Even CLAMP showed a modicum of restraint when writing the Angsty Tragic Stories of Subaru and Kamui. But Fay? In the most recent twenty chapters of the manga, so much tragedy has been piled upon him that it reaches the point of sheer fucking ridiculousness. And that's both in terms of what's happening to him in the contemporary plotline of the story, and in terms of what's been revealed in his past. And the worst part? Every single tragedy that Fay has been ground through is a boring-ass overused cliché. Vampires? Check. Suicide? Check. Self-mutiliation? Check. Cursed to kill Sakura? Check. Dead identical twin brother whose name he assumes? Check. And we still haven't even gotten to the what-the-hell-is-his-relationship-to-Ashura? part of the story yet, but I'm willing to be money, real actual genuine money, that it will involve an extremely twisted sexual component.

I mean, it's gotten to the point where in every chapter some new unimaginably awful thing either happens to Fay, or is revealed about Fay's past. And at this point, I'm just rolling my eyes. Tragedy must be doled out sparingly, or else it loses all of its meaning and impact. And Fay's tragedy has become so overwrought that it's lost all meaning. And it's descending dangerously into self-parody territory at this point, too. Not to mention the fact that Tsubasa has become so focused around Fay's tragedy-of-the-week that the other three main characters have been completely pushed to the background.

2. His I-hate-myself-and-want-to-die shtick is getting old. I can see why it infuriates Kurogane. And especially in light of what happened in the Tokyo arc, when Kurogane made a tremendous sacrifice in order to save Fay's life. And what does Fay do in return? Tries to be even more proactively suicidal than before. That's gratitude for you.

3. His bad posture makes my back hurt from just looking at him. ^^;;

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Mizuno Ami

1. As much as I do like her character, I have to admit that she basically has a one-note personality. Study, work, obsess, study, work, obsess. Her only "depth" shows up when she faces a crisis of self-confidence. Which is always resolved when, surprise surprise, she realizes that she does have self-confidence after all. All of her power-up episodes are exactly the same, and that's annoying. At least Rei, Makoto, and Minako realized more varied and interesting truths about themselves in their power-up episodes. But with Ami, it's always like Gosh I suck... Oh, wait, no I don't! MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER! It's the exact same pattern every time, with no variation. But the pattern works, and I'm sucker for exactly the one note that her personality is, so....

2. Shabon Spray is still the most useless attack that any Sailor Senshi has ever been saddled with. And yes, that includes Chibi Moon. (Yeah, I went there.)

3. I really, really dislike the Ami/Shingo pairing.

Urd

1. Sometimes I just can't believe that a person as otherwise smart, sensible, and perceptive as Urd would not realize what a mess her meddling schemes are making of Belldandy and Keiichi's love life. And sometimes Urd is just blatantly used as a plot device to cause some sort of comical mishap, regardless of whether her actions in that situation are in-character or not. For example, that chapter in the manga where she tried to shoot Skuld with cupid's arrow or something. So Urd has just spent the entirety of the manga trying to get Belldandy and Keiichi together, and now all of a sudden she thinks it will be a good idea to encourage Skuld and Keiichi to fall in love?!

2. How, exactly do some of her outfits stay on her body? Particularly her goddess dress, the most modern version. What is she doing, lining the inside of that thing with double-sided tape? Yeah, yeah, I know, she's a goddess, the laws of physics and gravity should not apply. But still....

3. Same complaint that I wrote about Mara above: Urd's relationships with Mara and Hild could be goldmines of dramatic and comic potential, but they're just completely wasted.

Archer

1. Engrish.

2. Engrish.

3. Engrish.

Nothing ruins a heart-poundingly dramatic death scene faster than a big heapin' dose of unintentionally hilarious Engrish.

Archer

[meiousei.livejournal.com]

Nothing ruins a heart-poundingly dramatic death scene faster than a big heapin' dose of unintentionally hilarious Engrish.

Man, I laughed SO HARD during that fight. Especially because it came out of nowhere.

[atelierjoh.livejournal.com]

I so totally agree with the Engrish.

I think in the Dark Horse adaption Urd was actually about to shoot the arrow of "broken love", in order to end Skuld's seemed infatuation with Keiichi. But it still doens't explain why Urd wouldn't at least be aware of the "coming of age" things that come with ebing a goddess, given her own experiences in the physical development realm.

I think her dress stays on because she's always so oiled up, hot, and sticky. That or her hrony pheromones are also sticky.

[ladykleo.livejournal.com]

No-no, not pheromones. Magic! And magically moving important parts which would definitely be exposed if she were a normal human female. But she's a goddess after all.