jessybxx

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger episode 1 review (with videos!)

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:33:28 GMT

( Several pages of mindless (but somewhat organized) gushing )

Sorry for going on about this forever but considering this is what you might call the temporary climax of a 35-year old franchise which happens to be one of my favourite things in the entire world, I can't really help it.

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Weight update

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:09:11 GMT

Don't mind me, I'm just so happy about this that I have to record this in some way...

August 2010:
102 kg (224 lbs)

December 2010:
95 kg (209 lbs)

February2011:
92 kg (202 lbs)

Total weight lost since August 2010:
10 kg (22 lbs)

Holy crap, this is TOO GREAT ^_^

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^______^

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:50:44 GMT

Being an otaku is the greatest thing in the world and I'd rather give my arm than stop.
That's all I ave to say right now.

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Some uni stuff

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:11:57 GMT

The last week of classes for this semester will be starting tomorrow.
Then, there'll be a break until the beginning of April during which there'll be exams (two for me, one oral and one written) and writing of papers (in my case, just one for now).
Most of my English classes finished a week early so I'll be mainly going to uni for the Japanology ones (culture on Monday, history on Tuesday and society on Wednesday.
Can't tell you how much I enjoyed these and even though passing the exam (28 of February) will require a superhuman amount of work, I'm pretty sure my passion for all things Japan will propel me towards mastering all the facts and getting an okay grade in the end.
After that I'll be allowed to take advanced cultural and social study modules and I'm looking forward to that so much it hurts.

However, I'll still be making my long way to uni and back nearly every day during the first week of the break.
For one, I have my Semantics oral on Thursday the 10th.
Also, I'll be attending a workshop about academic writing and research on Thursday and Wednesday. I think that will come in really in handy since I'm about to start writing my first ever paper.
Also, we get a whole credit point for about eight hours of work which is pretty generous if you ask me ;)

Speaking of paper, I talked to Mrs. K. (our geeky and awesome lecturer) about it and I'll be writing about manga after all.
I mean, it makes sense since my minor is Japanology after all and with and me being just about the most passionate female otaku in that class.
Of course it's going to largely depend on the amount (and quality) of the available secondary literature but I hope I'll be able to center my writing around the depiction of emotions in manga and maybe a comparison to how Western comics archive similar things.
Let's see how all this goes, huh? =)

PS: I need Japan/otaku related icons. Several ones, in fact. Well, one thing more on my to-do list XD

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Well...

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 23:22:29 GMT

... since it seems that nobody noticed that I was gone for five days, I don't think I'll write about it.
I have other stuff to do anyway.

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The pissed-off American and the Bavarian with only one leg

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:45:09 GMT

( Long but hopefully amusing ^^ )

Sorry for going on so much, but I felt like writing. Weird, huh? XD

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Aaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 21:23:45 GMT

On Thursday, me and Julia were waiting for American Realism & Naturalism class to begin.
Some woman from the faculty was setting up a laptop for DVD playback. Apparently, we were going to watch some movie clips this day and since out lecturer doesn't really bother with lowly things such as projectors and cables, he had that woman do all the preparations for him.
Anyway.
When the woman was finished with all the setting up, she ran the video for a bit, asking us whether the sound was loud enough.
Guess what the guy in the second row replied?
That brainless, good-for-nothing piece of trash actually had the guts to shout "Could you switch it to German?"
Y'know, if I wasn't such a peaceful person, I would've jumped from my seat that very instant and strangled him. Or even worse.
I mean, HELLO?! If you expect to watch a dubbed movie, you're very much in the wrong faculty.
But then, how could you follow a movie in English when you're not even able to form two consecutive sentences without making a mistake that would embarrass any seventh-grader to their very bones?
Seems I'm expecting too much of people who are in their second year studying... what was it? ... ENGLISH!!!
But hey, who would voluntarily concern themselves with their subject outside of school? Yeah, that would be weird. Not to mention boring.
We're supposed to hate the stuff we do and avoid it the best we can. Right?
... god, these people make me so sick >_<

Save me, smartass John, save me XDDD

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"If you have a partner who is prepared to copulate with you..."

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:55:23 GMT

*points to icon*
Yes, that really did happen. S01E03. I'm still not sure who to be jealous of here ;)
Bloody props game. That one usually propels the weirdness to a whole 'nother level, let me tell you.
Also, seven episodes before that, you can see that very same Mr. Fry dropping his pants.
Ah, where would ~~RPS~~ comedy be without WLiiA?
Actually, I think I don't want to know XD

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Why all the hatred?

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:42:46 GMT

I know, you shouldn't use YouTube as an indicator for the popularity of ANYTHING.
Still, I was appalled to see how many mean and simply horrible comments John's stuff gets on there.
Most of them are along the lines of "He's an arrogant git and he's not funny."

( Oh, PLEASE... )

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Just a little impression from last weekend's flood

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:54:56 GMT

This isn't my basement room but one of my neighbour's.
And yes, that box there is floating :|

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Damn

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:36:53 GMT

I can't write another tweet for the next god-knows-how-many hours and just had to delete about 150 SPAM tweets manually.
You're probably wondering what happened.
I was working to set up a new German blog and tried importing entries from my old blog. What I didn't realize was that the WordPress Tweeter was not only installed and running but also had my new login and password. So, it tweeted every single post that was imported, resulting in an almighty stream of useless SPAM tweets.
I only noticed when rdyfrde asked what the hell this was supposed to be and of course, I nearly died of shock and scrambled to rectify this.
But this also explained why importing stopped after about 150 entries. I had simply reached my daily limit of Twitter status updates and apparently, if tweeting the stuff doesn't work, the WordPress importer simply stops.
What a mess ._.
However, this also led tome discovering WordPress Suicide, a neat little plugin to wipe all your entries, comments and categorizes, leaving an empty but working WordPress installation.

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Are you an extrovert or an introvert?

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:20:04 GMT

rdyfrde talked about this test so I had a go to see what my score would be.

Yeah, sounds a lot like me.

If you're interested, you can take the test here.

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FF

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:57:41 GMT

thefridayfive for 10 September 2010...

1. What do you really want to be when you grow up?
Well, for one, I am grown up but don't have a job or anything similar yet. I guess after graduating in 2012, I want to do something translation-related.

2. Where were you born?
At the St. Marien-Hospital (their site even has an English version!) in Siegen on August 23rd, 1981 at 7-something PM.

3. Who were you with on September 11, 2001?
My family.

4. When do you brush your teeth?
In the evening, I'm usually too lazy to do it in the morning ^_^;;;

5. Where is Waldo?
Counter question: Do you think I care? ;P

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Yes!!! a.k.a. Munich the 6th

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:47:44 GMT

Nuff said ;)

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In which she owed some people one giant apology

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:44:43 GMT

I said a lot of stupid things yesterday and today. This wasn't the first time I did something lime this but I'll try my utmost to make it the last time ever.
silicondreams and rdyfrde, you two work hard for the money that makes it possible to do these fun things together. This is great, the both of you totally deserve it and if I ever so much as show the tiniest sign of being a stupid, jealous asshole again, feel free to kick me. Hard.
Right now, I'm not in a state to do any of the stuff you do. I'm a student, just got out of a horrible marriage and am trying to get by by myself, financially and psychologically. Once I graduate, I'll try to find a decent job that will hopefully give me enough money to travel a bit once in a while.
And, provided you two don't mind, and after all of this crap, it would still be understandable if you did, I'd love to be a part of the gang.
Until then, I'm sorry and hope you'll still want to be my friends, preferably for, like, 4759 years ;)

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Uni x2

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:29:12 GMT

Yesterday, I tried out my uni's new subway connection which was opened as recently as this Monday.
Basically, the U79, which is Düsseldorf's most important subway line was extended to reach the university's east tram station. Luckily, that's one of the two closest stops to the part of campus where I usually have my classes and also the one I've been using 95% of the time.
As much as I like going by tram, especially the old ones from the 1950s of which quite a lot are still in use, the new subway connection cuts traveling time from the main station by half.
Also, if I'm really lazy, I can just stay inside and go all the way to Duisburg main station as well. This, however, takes more time than getting out at Düsseldorf main station and going to Duisburg by train. But if I don't feel like looking for a train and want to bypass using German Rail (because, frankly, most delays and cancellations do happen with the normal trains, subways and trams tend to work flawlessly), this is one seems like a nice alternative.
So, yay for U79 :D

Today, I checked the online class registration system and noticed I was approved for the comics one. That was the one that seemed like the most difficult one to grab a slot, so I'm more than relieved to know I'm actually in. Hell yes!!!
The other lecturers still haven't approved anyone, but most of the other classes didn't have a participants' limit set anyway, so I expect to have landed a space in those as well. I've seen classes that never had anyone approved all semester long. Maybe some profs just don't know how to sue the system correctly, but as long as I'm on their list in the first session, all's well and dandy.
Also, the narratology seminar only has nine registrants so far, which is surprising. I mean, usually, when a class has "film" or "video games" in its description, people scratch each others' eyes out tog et in. Well, maybe the description sounded too difficult, people are sick of the concept of unreliable narrators (which seems to be the main topic) or, and this is actually most likely, people just don't want to get up early (it's at 9 AM).
Ah well, who cares. My awesome timetable seems to have become reality, and that's all I was hoping for here ^_^

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OM NOM NOM

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:35:22 GMT

Look, I made an Andrew icon ♥
I actually stole the banner from the Bizarre Foods website because I love the photo so much. He looks totally adorable, dontcha think? ;)

Okay, more useless ramblings, anyone? Here we go!

Man, my kitchen is still so horribly incomplete, not just in terms of appliances and accessories. The wall cupboard my parents had ordered for me about, uh, two months ago still hasn't shown up and the last time they came here to work on my apartment the shelf I wanted to store food didn't fit in the car. So, right now, I'm stuck with two cupboards (one below my sink and the other one next to it which also has the work surface [where I cut stuff] and two drawers) and the top of my fridge to put things. Believe me, this is far FAR too little for all the plates, pots, glasses, cutlery and so on, not to mention the actual FOOD has to go somewhere. I mean, not everything can be stored in the fridge, so what about the potatoes, onions, bread, salt, flour, sugar...
Needless to say, it's a bit full in there right now, what with it being a small kitchen in the first place. But I like when it looks like it's actually being used, which it is. The kitchen at the place where I lived until a short while ago always felt like a fries stand because most food was made in the deep fryer. Actually, the surfaces and even the floor had started becoming sticky because of all the fatty fumes. Blergh! Right now, I don't even HAVE a deep fryer and honestly, could care less about getting one. I'm trying to cook real food with fresh ingredients, not just because I finally want to learn how to do it but also because I'm concerned about me health and, last but certainly not least, my weight. Is it just me or am I starting to sound like Jamie Oliver? Well, it's no surprise since I've been watching quite a bit of him lately, and also, goddammit, that man is RIGHT. But I'll maybe elaborate on that some other time.
During the past ten years, I've taken on about 25 kg (about 50 lbs) which is just HORRIBLE and I've certainly noticed my health starting to suffer from it. I just hope it's still early enough to turn this around...

On a more cheerful note, my second try on my improvised "Khaos Kurry" (I should file a copyright for this, I tell ya XD) turned out quite nicely indeed. I managed to get the meat less chewy (Thanks for the tops, mum :*), added more onions and tomatoes to the sauce and, since, this time, I actually had remembered to buy rice to go with it, more milk to get more sauce out of it. It honestly tasted like a real dish and realizing I not only had made up a recipe, got the amount of curry right AGAIN but also improved and added to it nearly made me cry onto my plate while enjoying it.
Maybe I DO have a real knack for this? If I do, I know whose genes are at work here *huggles her mum*

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Today...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:58:39 GMT

... like I mentioned before, I had tog et up at 5 AM. Actually, I got up a quarter of an hour earlier to switch on the laptop and the internet and to make myself a hot cup of mint tea because for some obscure reason I was freezing my ass off.

( The rest of today, with all the painful (literally) details! )

Crazy and bad-ish day much? I hope this was the last one of its kind for quite a while :|

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Kai's rather belated birthday present...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:53:51 GMT

... I HAS IT.

It's the DVD of 白蛇伝/Hakujaden/The Tale of the White Serpent
Wow.
Kai sending ME an anime I have never heard of. Talk about crazy.
But I know EXACTLY why he chose it.
It's the oldest colour anime feature film ever (it's from 1958) and Kai seems to be fully aware of the fact that, like him, I love oldschool stuff at least as much as the newest fare.
Gosh, that man never ceases to amaze me.
Well, I guess now I know what to watch tonight =)
Gonna be interesting, I read they only used two voice actors for all the characters. Also, the DVD does have German dub, but also the original with English subs. Good thing, I hate German subs, Japanese translated into that always sound horribly awkward.
Anyhow, I'll tell you more about it tomorrow, not that you'd want to hear it, right? XD

I just noticed, Kai was exactly one year old when that movie was released. Heh... ^_^;;;

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Plans for the rest of the week

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:51:49 GMT

Tomorrow
1. Survive a visit at the the employment bureau, apparently, if I ask them, they'll pay for my lawyer. Or not. I really have no idea, so I gotta ask.
2. Buy groceries, maybe look for a bigger pan.

Wednesday
1. Get up at 5 AM to register for fall semester classes and pray I get the good ones.
2. Appointment with allergist at 8 AM, hope she's really as good as word of mouth suggests. Also, please make her have someone who can draw blood nicely, even from people with difficult arms (like me XD).

Thursday
1. Go to uni to register for Japanese repeat exam and maybe pick up some credits for my successful exams.
2. Have a nice lunch at the cafeteria (According to the weekly plan, they'll have my beloved vegetarian cream cheese potato pockets <3).
3. Buy a stack of file cards to study kanji (Yeah, I'm dead serious about passing this time XD)

Friday
Nothing (What? Even I need a quiet day once in a while, also, it's supposed to be the time of holidays ;P).

Saturday
1. Catch the train to the 'rents place
2. See "Inception" at the cinema with mum and bro.

Sounds good. Bring it on!!

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Timetable woes

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:25:03 GMT

So, I've been spending the last... uh... three hours trying to piece together a somewhat reasonable schedule for next semester (starting in early October).
After nearly pulling my hair out more than once, I've come to the following conclusions:
- IMHO, they just close the place on Mondays and Fridays, there's next to nothing happening on these days anyway. So much for trying to destroy the cliché of anyone connected to a university being goddamn lazy.
- If you're not a first-year student and one of your subjects doesn't happen to be the most common one in the world (Sorry for wanting to do Japanese studies, I'm such a bad person >:|), you'll end up with classes clashing and having to redo your time table over and over and over. The fact that 95% of all courses are crammed into the three days in the middle of the week doesn't help much.
- You can move, check and re-check all you want, in the end, you'll end up with the most unbalanced schedule in the history of academics. That usually means having to be at uni all day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and having little or no classes on Monday and Friday.
- If you want to know what to do for your obligatory electives, don't try to do something that makes sense. Just select according to what fits into your timetable and doesn't look too horrible or outlandish. The way things look now, I'll end up doing nothing BUT those in my fifth semester just to get those credits coming in. Yeargh.

Sheesh, what a bother. Still, I'm hopeful I'll get used to coming home at 8 PM, it's not like I haven't survived that for a full semester before.
Wish me luck for getting into all the classes I want (especially the comics and media narratology ones, I'd KILL to be able to attend them!), but I'm somewhat hopeful since I'll be getting up at 5 AM on Wednesday because that's when online registration opens. Yeah, fucking stupid, but what can one do ? >_<

Also, somewhat related: It seems that the new subway connection between Düsseldorf main station and the university is finished and was opened today. That means that we can get from Duisburg to Düsseldorf uni without having to change, but it'll quite possibly take twice the time. Wow, that was ONE useful building enterprise there. Not ;P

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Weird crush day?

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:10:35 GMT

( Crazy stuff up ahead, read at your own risk (Do I have th keep writing this in EVER ENTRY? XD) )

PS: On a semi-related note, I was shocked to see how many haters La Carmina has around the intarwebs. Sure, whenever anyone does anything that gets some attention, there's at least some people who'll start bitching the heck out of them. Sure, I'm bloody jealous of her job and the fact that she got to film with Andrew *cough* but I still wouldn't HATE her for it. She's doing good stuff, and if people criticize her for having plagiarized some of the stuff she's put on her blog, they should look at themselves first. I mean, I'm quite convinced that there are only a few people who have NEVER taken a picture or a video without asking the creator for permission. Also, if people think that the things La Carmina writes about Japanese culture are wrong, why don't they tell her and instead bitch behind her back? Oh, right, they're envious lowlifes without even a shred of character or dignity who probably can't even spell. I forgot :P

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Another post on the same day? Wow!

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:56:41 GMT

I was just re-reading old entries when I stumbled upon this, written on January 1st, 2008. It's about Kai dubbing Nigel Marven in "Prehistoric Park".

My favourite scene so far [...] was the one in episode 5 where Nigel visits the prehistoric woods and, in a hushed voice, calls them "magic forest". I'm not sure if I've ever heard Kai #2 using the "totally in awe" mode of speaking before, but needless to say, I died.

Well, more than two and a half years later I can say that I have heard him using that hushed way of speaking several times.
... mainly when saying goodbye to me on the phone... ^_^;;;
Just saying *beams*

Looking back at what happened until today, it's almost impossible to believe.
I mean, we met half a dozen times, I slept in his house, we explored Munich, did the live audio play together (or at least that's what I like to think), we watched movies for hours and he showed me his studio and other music stuff and cooked awesome meals for me, he got me my first translating job and I actually got paid for it just yesterday, the first week here when I didn't have internet yet he seemed to be worried and called me so often I was amazed he always plays along with me weird nerdy antics and after a while even started using netspeak himself, and so on.
Really, I know I' not one who gets lucky with stuff on a regular basis, but Kai is one of the few things that just happened to me and changed my life into something better, happier and much more worthwhile.

Thanks, baby.
You mean the world to me, y'know?

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<3 <3 <3

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:14:03 GMT

Today is the birthday of one of the people who are most precious to me.
I'm proud to be his friend, he's always there and believes in me when even I don't, and certainly have no idea what the heck I'd do without him.
Happy Birthday, Kai!!!

( My mafioso )

PS: If you're as confused about the pic as I think you are, let me tell you it's got something to do with the game Mafia II. Kai and a few colleagues did the voice acting for this, but I'm not certain why they did those photo shoots for O_o Maybe I should just ask him XD

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Companion quiz

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:17:04 GMT

Stolen from metalmusicfan:

Rose Tyler
Take Which Doctor Who companion are you? (girls) today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You're Rose Tyler!

You are spunky, determined, and as religiously devoted to your Doctor as you are to chips. (He's the only one who doesn't know how sweet you are on him, too.) You never stay put when you're told to stay put, but just when everyone expects you to get roasted by the monster of the week, you turn right around and figure out the mystery. You're sharp as a tack, but also sensitive, knowing when the Doctor needs someone to back him up or when he just needs a hand to hold. He seems to think he can get rid of you... you're quick to show him he's wrong!

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