The View From Now

Some notes on Death Note

2008-08-20T09:11:00.007-05:00

I finally finished reading the Death Note manga yesterday. I started reading it a few years ago, and loved it. The premise brings up a number of possibilities and intriguing concepts: a brilliant high school boy finds a notebook left by a shinigami (death god) that allows him to kill any person whose name he writes in the notebook, so long as he can picture the person's face. After testing the notebook and succeeding in killing a known criminal, Light Yagami does not recoil in horror, but instead sets about killing those people he finds unworthy of life, while evading the suspicions of the government, the police, and his father, who happens to be a detective.

The series famously loses some momentum in volume 7, and it was shortly after that point that I fell off the wagon. I finished the 12th and final volume yesterday, and found closure in the series.

In general, though, I'd like to state a few thoughts on the differences between shounen and shoujo manga in general.

For the curious, "shounen" manga (ie, Death Note) is Japanese comics marketed toward boys. In general, the male protagonist fights against almost every person he meets, with the goal of growing stronger. Series focus on abilities and reasons for fighting. "Shoujo" manga, on the other hand, is marketed toward girls, and often focuses on relationships and drama.

I personaly have read a lot more shoujo manga than shounen manga. I've tried some shounen stuff, but overall find myself quite bored.

Spoilers for Death Note and a bit of Code Geass lie behind the grey.

I just....I guess that even before L died, the series got stale after a while. I think things would be much more interesting if Misa had some of her own agency instead of being Light's idiotic puppet. Or Naomi Misora...I was really sorry to see her die so quickly, because I loved her. I had a similar problem in Code Geass, with Shirley Fanette's knowledge about Lelouch being negated so quickly.

Overall, this series is Light playing chess with other male antagonists. L, or the avatars of L after his death. And it's just....boring to me. Nobody ever changes. Nobody ever emotionally matures. Nobody's opinion of Kira changes, I don't think. It's just a bunch of dudes (for the most part) posturing, trying to out-smart each other. And I so do not care about the detailed descriptions of how they intend to ensnare each other in a logic trap. I skimmed a bunch of volumes 10 and 11, just looking at pictures to guide me where action was actually taking place.

I don't know. I just get tired of it, and I feel like I had the same problem with Naruto (although people actually do mature and change in Naruto....I just got through about 30 volumes and still didn't care about any of the characters, and decided that that was enough for now). Will I ever find a shounen series to like? I like Tsubasa Chronicles, but I feel like that's more shoujo than shounen. I guess I'm more inclined to shounen when it's anime. I'll watch fights, but I want music and flashiness and gunshots.

That said, though, I did love that Matsuda was the one to shoot Light.

CACKLE

2008-08-19T15:32:00.004-05:00

LOOK AT WHAT BOOKS I GOT FOR $1 EACH TODAY! I CACKLE FOREVER.

Death Note, volume 12 - Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women
American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
Women and Health in America, 2nd Edition

PLUS, 4 books that will be given as gifts.

I wrote most of this last night, and deleted the more emo parts for your reading pleasure, :D

2008-08-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

I feel happier than I have in a long time. A number of people have commented on this to me in the last week. And I am. I feel like I don't even show it as much as I could. I can't explain in words how much better I feel.

And yet, the inevitable is creeping in, as I knew it would. With every item that is set in place, with every security blanket that gets spread beneath me, I am more able to relax. And with every layer of stress that I get to shed, the more I get stripped bare, the more it is just me and my personal anxieties staring at each other, without anything left to hide behind.

I need to be better at buying presents for friends. School has taught me to be always-behind-the-ball in things like this, but I am often pleasantly surprised by family and friends at both Christmas and my birthday, and my offerings kind of suck by comparison. I'm good at buying books for people, but that's about it. suggested keeping a spreadsheet of things people say (like, "my favorite color is blue!"), and how much I spend, etc. I think I'll start that now. Of course, this doesn't help the fact that three of my friends' birthdays are this month, in addition to my and Antoine's anniversary. At least I have two out of four taken care of...right?

Also, Bridget, you have single-handedly inspired me to update my Booklog (which is behind by like, 6 months....and I keep track of manga!) to show you that I do too read books! I'd say I spend an equal amount of time on manga as I do novels; manga just takes a lot less time, so it's really easy to burn through. There's a lot more blank space and dramatic paneling in manga than in U.S. comics.

The Weekend in Review and The Blind Assassin

2008-08-17T14:56:00.001-05:00

This has been a nice weekend: a combination of fellowship and enough alone time to get most of my apartment in order. Only a few boxes need to be dealt with. Pictures and posters need to be hung; curtains need to be sewn. A few things need to be bought. But I feel like I'm home now, which is a very nice feeling.

and came over last night to see the place. It met their approval. We drank some wine, ate some cherries jubilee, and chatted. When they left, my apartment had gained some leftover wine, leftover organic vanilla ice cream, and some original artwork by , which hangs above my stove on the only nail already existing on my walls.

dropped me off at the Union Terrace, where I got pleasantly drunk on pitchers of beer with Antoine, Keely, The Hammer, and a few of Keely's friends. It's been a while since I've felt this happy. I feel as though I don't deserve any of it.

I went to church today, and was able to walk along the lake on my way home. The view outside my room isn't much to brag about, but I need only walk a block to have plenty to look at. The lake makes me homesick for my family's summer place Up North, though. I haven't gone all summer. I hope I can go in September some time.

One of my book clubs is going to meet tonight, and I'd like to blog about it before going. I find it hard to articulate my thoughts in a group where everyone has something interesting to say, so writing things down before I go will possibly help. Anyway, for this month, we read Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin, and I loved it. It's a story of the demise of a family, of the love of two sisters, of the selfishness of people and how stories can be slowly unpacked and revealed by a narrator who has a lot to hide. It also serves as a critical commentary on the way women were treated in the 1930s.

The story is being written by Iris, an elderly Canadian woman waiting to die, and writing down the story of her life before it happens. It turns out that she has quite a bit to tell. Interspersed with Iris's narrative of her childhood and young adulthood are excerpts of a novel titled The Blind Assassin, published posthumously by her sister Laura, after her suicide. The Blind Assassin is a novel about two lovers. In the novel, the man is telling the woman a science fiction tale.

I personally didn't care for the novel within the novel, and skimmed most of it. Why? Because I was basically devouring Iris's narrative about her life.

I'm not sure what it is that I loved so much about it. Her writing style had a lot to do with it, for sure. Her descriptions of her and her sister's life were fascinating me. What they wore, what they were taught, how they were treated, her familial lineage, their housekeeper Reenie's constant advice and fierce loyalty, the drama that developed as the girls matured into young adults. The turning seasons, the gossipy rich society that did its best to maintain its frivolity in the midst of both the Depression and World War II.

Book-ruining spoilers lie behind the grey.

It's also clear the Iris of the present and the Iris of the 1930s are very different. In the present, she is a stubborn spitfire, grateful for help from old friends, and still sharp as a tack.
But the Iris of the 1930s was dutiful, observant, and silent - lying back and doing nothing while making love, not even admonishing her husband for keeping her father's death a secret from her on their honeymoon.

I loved all of the historical notes, on everything from clothing to food to customs. I even learned something about my own mom. My mom's name is Billie, and her sister's name is Bonnie. My mom has received a lot of mail over the years addressed to Mr. Billie [our last name], much to her amusement. But now her and my aunt's names make a lot more sense to me.

"Call me Freddie," she said after I'd sat down. "All my chums do, and I want us to be great chums." It was the fashion then for women like Winifred to favour diminutives that made them sound like youths: Billie, Bobbie, Willie, Charlie. I had no such nickname, so could not offer one in return.

The reveals weren't not wholly unexpected, although some of them were. It took me a while to realize that Iris was the protagonist of the novel, and not Laura. But I didn't realize that Iris was the true author until she flat-out said it.

I didn't care too much for the Alex/Richard/Laura/Iris drama, although I do find it interesting that Iris never really spoke of her relationship with Alex at all. Although this quadrangle is the focus of the novel, it was not the focus for me. What I loved were Iris's reflections on life, both now as an elderly woman and in the 1930s as society was back then. I think I like it most of all as a novel unpacking the expectations, duties, and silence of women in the early 20th century.

Current Music: Make Yourself at Home - The Starting Line

After School Nightmare, volume 1

2008-08-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

I never know how to mark spoilers for the first volume of a manga series. Because, obviously it spoils the first volume, but it's impossible to talk about the series at all without "giving away" the premise of the series! I choose to un-cut because I think a lot of people on my friendslist will find this interesting, even those who don't normally read manga.

Ichijo Mashiro is a popular boy who plays on his school's kendo team. But the very first pages of this manga show him standing in the shower, staring at the blood from his first period on the ground. "No way," he breathes, but as we read on, we learn that it is way: Ichijo is a boy from the waist up, and a girl from the waist down. He has spent his life behaving as a boy, and kept this secret from everyone he knows.

Until now, anyway. Ichijo is forced by a mysterious teacher to stay after school for a class needed to graduate. In this class, a handful of students interact in a dream world where each of them struggles against their biggest fear, and competes for a key. The students appear to each other as manifestations of their fear. One student has two giant holes in her body: one in her face, and one in her chest; one student has turned into a long, sentient hand. Another walks around in a suit of armor, challenging his classmates for the key. Ichijo appears as he normally would....except that he is wearing a skirt. To his horror, he realizes that this dream world is not just a dream....everyone remembers everything afterward, and because his classmates can see his face, they all now know his secret.

Manga will often use ambiguous gender as a trope, but this is one of the few I've seen that actually shows the protagonist grappling with with different gender identities, and what they mean to him (or her; Ichijo is certainly a "he" in volume 1, but it remains to be seen where his heart will take him). It is clear that right now, Ichijo's view of gender is very warped.

Ichijo says, Guys are stronger. Guys are sturdier. Guys have more freedom. Guys have fewer weaknesses. That's why I want to be a guy. I focused on being like a guy so I would become one. But....when I lost to Sou...I knew it was because I'm a girl. Even though I trained so hard to become strong....I lost to a slacker...because of my body. It's really amazing how distorted everyone can get. ... This body I walk around in is the most distorted thing of all. That's why I didn't turn into anything else in that dream. Because this body is uglier than anything I know.

Of course, this is Ichijo's view of men. In the dream world, he learns that his classmate Kureha was raped on her way home from school at the age of 5. Why is it that men do nothing but hurt? she asks. If only they'd all just die....

Still, despite watching Kureha's nightmare, Ichijo still longs to be a man: I want to become a man with a steady heart. Beautiful and unwavering...I want to be a dignified man.

It will be interesting to see how Ichijo develops throughout the series. To defeat his nightmare, I'm assuming that he will choose one gender over the other. In the first volume, he seeks an open heterosexual relationship with Kureha, but it's clear (from their passionate kiss) that he and Sou have homosexual feelings for one another....or, at least, the feelings will be homosexual if Ichijo remains male.

I enjoyed this volume thoroughly, but unfortunately, it's wildly popular. I think I had this on hold at the library for a month before I got a hold of it. Oh well; future volumes will be something to look forward to.

Look, an online preview!

Questions I have right now: What does it mean to "graduate"? Will Ichijo become accepting of his body, and of what it means to be a strong woman, or will his view of gender remain warped? How come he thinks he has to be a woman to be with Sou, or a man to be with Kureha (who ironically hates men, and considers Ichijo the "only man she can be with," because he's not really a man)?

My all-time anime favorite Revolutionary Girl Utena makes me feel a lot safer. She would have a lot to say to Ichijo's "I wish I could be dignified and strong like a man." Women can be like that, too!

I try to keep track of what manga I consider "safe for kids" because I get a lot of people asking me "What series are okay for my 7-year-old daughter?" It's probably not something I would hand to my 9-year-old niece.

Materialism II

2008-08-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

So, then I bought more things....because I went to the library! There is a "Friends of the Library" store that sells paperbacks for $1, but there is usually never a volunteer running the show, so it's always closed. But not today!

My spoils:
Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (we read excerpts of this in my Disability in Literature class!)
Tracks by Louise Erdrich (My professor had us read the short story based on the beginning of this novel, but all she would talk about in discussion was the novel. I found this pretty annoying and a poor teaching device, but hopefully I'll still like it.
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois
When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula Giddings

Yay! I need to read more books authored by people of color that aren't manga, so these are good for me.

I also now have five volumes of the manga Recipe for Gertrude, so perhaps I ought to read them.

BOOKS! Now I have to find space for them in my apartment....

Materialism

2008-08-14T23:11:00.000-05:00

Today, I came to own many objects.

In Madison, most of the apartment leases end on August 14th. This entire week is a parade of people carelessly throwing away perfectly-working items on the curbside. It is something of a sporting event to peruse the neighborhoods, looking for furniture or other cast-off belongings in working-order. Steph is a pro at this, and helped me find things. Of course, Kristy and I also helped her. Among other things, she scored a nice, comfy chair.

Free Things
--Lace, from Kristy's mom, for making curtains. My plan is to consult The Hammer, unless anyone else wants to help me (I don't know how to sew).
--Two matching bar stools, with backs. Found by Steph. They're a tad low for my breakfast bar, but they're close enough that I think they're fine. I like having a high table anyway.
--A copper-bottom pot. I have nice pots and pans, but they are all non-stick, and I've been warned by various people of death-by-Teflon. So now I have a non-non-stick pot.
--Measuring spoons! I'm pretty excited about these; they are metal. A teaspoon is a lot bigger than I remember it being. My cooking will improve.
--A shower caddy thingie. It hangs from the spout, and I can put things on it.
--A cheese-cutter
--A basket, which I will use to keep some of my toiletries

Things from the $1 store
--A jar-cup with a handle
--Another basket for toiletries
--Four small picture frames for items I'd like to hang on the walls in my bathroom

More expensive things
--Groceries
--Buffy, Season 6. Half-Price Books had seasons 5, 6, and 7 for $20 each. I knew that I had to get at least one!

Two stories of horror; two stories of wholesome happiness

2008-08-14T08:54:00.000-05:00

My computer is being a jerk, so most of this post was written last night. I hope that I can fix it! A computer-less Jackie is a sad Jackie.

I wonder how long it will take for me to be "done" with putting all of my stuff away....today I finished putting all my books on shelves. Of course, there are other books that must be boxed and otherwise dealt with.

I went to the Farmer's Market today. I purchased a bundle of scallions, a loaf of sliced sourdough bread, and a pound of red potatoes. (And two cookies!) Mmmm, delicious food.

For the last twenty minutes of work yesterday, I answered phones where my superiors usually work, but they were gone. While speaking on the phone professionally, a winged mammal erratically flapped across my line of vision. I swear to God, my heart stopped beating. I frantically finished my conversation and hung up. I clung to the edge of the desk, staring in horror at the door that the bat had just flown through, wondering if I should risk running and shutting it into my boss's office.

While I pondered my next course of action, the bat came flapping back out. Before I could even scream, it exited the office. I bolted to the door and slammed it shut, watching it wing its way around the corner.

I called a co-worker, who came to investigate with a sweatshirt wrapped around her head. Eventually, I called Capitol Police, and the grounds people came and "took care of it." Based on my vegetarian friend's angry reaction, we opted not to investigate whether this meant that the bat was killed or released outside.

WTF, A BAT.

Current Music: Misfits - Third Eye Blind

Fooding with Jackie

2008-08-13T20:20:00.002-05:00

LOL, this is the most domestic LJ icon I have.

SO. I am not very good at cooking. Chad and Antoine have spent a lot of time watching me try (and fail) to make stuff. If you ask them, they will agree that I'm not too great. But I want to get better! Last night's lemon pepper chicken was a success, and made enough for 4 meals. I am heartened by this.

I have books and stuff, and they are awesome. The best one is probably the one that The Hammer gave me for Christmas, titled The New Best Recipe. It is large and hardcover. It contains hundreds of illustrations and explanations of tasks considered too simple to explain in most cookbooks, such as how to shred chicken, what to look out for when cooking mushrooms, how to segment an orange, etc.

There are also explanations for various tips, which make much more inclined to follow them! There are often small boxes giving advice on the "best" brand-name Mayonnaise, the best chocolate chips, etc. This advice is invaluable if you're as clueless as I am.

Cooking doesn't come easy to me, and I make stupid mistakes, but I will try to share my progress as I go along. The tamale recipe is really, really easy; beginners should check it out. I also post the white rice recipe because n00bs might be clueless, and I never did the butter trick until reading the recipe. Rice is also a good base for lots of meals, or can be used with leftover take-out food, etc.

Tamale and Cheese Dinner, from The Starving Students' Cookbook

How to make nice white rice, from The New Best Recipe

Current Music: Signal the Riflemen - Say Anything

Discontent

2008-08-12T08:06:00.004-05:00

Last week was International Blog Against Racism Week. I've been saving all of the links to my favorite posts, and will post them soon. Perhaps tonight.

I just want an entire week in which I can sit in my apartment and get the rest of my stuff put away. It's presentable enough that I would allow people to come visit, but there are still a number of things for which I need to find spaces. I'm also really looking forward to getting some pictures on the walls.

I've got my manga shelved (except for the large stack for which there is no shelf!), but it's taking a while to go through my books and figure out which books will fit on my large bookshelf. For the most part, I'm taking out books I haven't read yet, so I'm not THAT GUY, the pretentious one who lines her shelves with books she's heard about but hasn't yet read. Of course, thus far the only shelf that's finished contains books on race, feminist books transitioning into literary criticism and reflections on women's literature, transitioning to 18th century women's literature written by women like the Brontes, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Louisa May Alcott. I have a lot of glee about this shelf, I tell you what.

I was pretty crabby yesterday. I was all set to bake some lemon pepper chicken breasts, and Antoine came over. He unfortunately forgot to bring the xxxHolic movie*, and it completely never occurred to me to take the chicken breasts out of the freezer so that they might thaw.

Thus, I spent a long time alternatively microwaving the chicken and letting it sit in a bowl of water, to no avail. Chicken breasts will be okay if I put them in airtight tupperware and set them in the fridge, right? I have the minced garlic and the lemon slices, as well as thawed chicken, so I think I'm going to try again tonight.

I was pretty disheartened, wearing the heinous green chef's hat my sister got me for Christmas, and my apron. In the end, Antoine treated me to a slice of pizza at Ian's. I am convinced that I will continuously fail at domesticity, but Antoine assures me that the only way to learn how to get better at cooking is to make a bunch of mistakes and then never make them again.

I'm reading Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin for Book Club, and I am loving it. Have I mentioned that I've never read The Handmaid's Tale? I fail at life, but I think I like her a lot! I look forward to reading other stuff by her.

* I feel like every time I get something from Netflix for the purpose of watching it with someone else, it takes at least 2 weeks for things to work out so that we can actually watch it. I think in the future, I'm only going to watch the stuff by myself! I want my money's worth.

The Internet in my apartment now works!

2008-08-10T22:12:00.005-05:00

Friday was Chad's birthday. We ate delicious funfetti cupcakes made by Kristy. Kristy and Chad also donated some of their wedding Kohl's Cash to getting me a shower curtain.

I understand that this contributed to Chad's being unable to purchase Super Monkey Ball for the Wii. Let us mourn for this serious loss. We were also able to listen to Kristy's parents' drunken birthday message on Chad's voicemail. (Kristy's mom is one of my blog readers; you didn't think I'd leave that out, did you?!)

On Saturday, I went to Milwaukee to visit my friend Jennifer, and Laura, just before she goes to Spain for a semester. I would call them high school friends, but I'm realizing that I'm unique in that most of my high school friends were my friends from elementary school (or earlier) all the way through senior year.

Jennifer's apartment has an amazing view of both the city and Lake Michigan. We ate delicious food, watched Juno and Mama Mia (I didn't think I'd like Mama Mia, but I mostly loved it!), and went shopping. I purchased more than I should have, but I love everything I got!

Of course, my favorite buys were my books: an autobiography by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (author of The Yellow Wallpaper, and The Norton Book of Women's Lives, which is a selection of memoirs, journals, and autobiographies of women from the twenty-first century.

Jennifer and Laura also found me a cover of The New Yorker from May 19, 1986 - my birthdate! It's a simplistic and beautiful piece, and I'd like to frame it.

I have yet to hang anything on my walls. I should get on that. It's going to be really hard when I have to narrow down my fandom-related stuff (Fullmetal Alchemist wallscroll, Horatio Hornblower poster, Frodo Baggins poster, Sailor Moon laminated cutouts, etc.). I HAVE A TOUGH LIFE, INTERNET.

Greed aside, I had a lovely time walking around Milwaukee, and I'm glad I got to spend some time with old friends.

And now, some links.

--mon_starling made it through 3 chapters of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight and is able to articulate another reason to dislike it: Edward's failure as a vampire.

I mean, correct me if I am wrong, but aren't vampires supposed to be terrifying, alluring, agents of decadence and moral corruption and basically sex on legs?

--There has never been the release of the score of Buffy, until now. I hope they're releasing more! I loved the instrumental stuff in season 7 to bits.

--I'll be the first to admit that John Edwards broke my heart a little bit, but it's not something I'd really like to spend a lot of time thinking about. The media, of course, has other ideas. Fox News Host Refuses To Talk About Russia-Georgia War, Insists On Covering Edwards’ Affair One of many things I don't like about 24-hour news channels.

ERBE: The American public have told pollsters, this political season they want substance. Both these candidates have expressed support for allowing Georgia into NATO. … We could have been on the verge of nuclear war. Those are the kinds of the things that the American public wants to see discussed.

JARRETT: Right. You know, but getting back to Edwards, during the Monica Lewinsky affair, Edwards absolutely ripped into Bill Clinton.

There's a link where you can watch the video for yourself.

--Faith Erin Hicks makes an advertisement for The War at Ellsmere, a new graphic novel of hers that will be coming out in December. I love Faith's artwork, and while I bought Zombies Calling and liked it well enough, I love her character studies and drama a lot more than I do her humor. Plus....an all girls' private boarding school! Pretty much amazing. I am excited. The page includes a link to a 11-page preview.

The amount of time I spend on the computer at work is dramatically increasing....

2008-08-08T09:13:00.000-05:00

Firstly: Has anyone heard much about the new TV show called The Fringe? I just heard about it here, and it sounds pretty awesome. A sci-fi TV show, created by JJ Abrams, with Joshua Jackson in it? I'm in. WTF, I watch TV again now! I'm excited for this, Dollhouse, the return of The Office, and would like to catch up on Grey's and Battlestar Galactica (I think I now only have about 3 episodes left).

Speaking of TV....Last night I watched through episode 8 of the new season of Code Geass. Generally speaking, I like the first season a lot more, and find this one much less interesting so far. But I still love the gorgeous character designs enough to keep watching. I'd like to see how much rewatch value the first season has, because I loved it at the time.

Lastly, another meme! But this one is participatory!

Pick a fandom, and I'll tell you which character(s) I would
1. bake cupcakes for:
2. trust with the keys to my car (if I had a car):
3. put thumbtacks on their chair:
4. have a crush on:
5. pack up and leave if they moved next door:
6. vote for President:
7. pick as my partner in a buddy movie:
8. pair up:
9. vote off the island and into the volcano:
10. wheedle into fixing my MP3 player:

My favorite TV shows, anime shows, manga series, and video games can be found in my profile; books and stuff are on Facebook (or well-known?!). Someone ask me about Final Fantasy VII! DO IT.

20-Question Meme; Books

2008-08-06T21:20:00.008-05:00

Twilighttreader tagged me to do this meme. I'm supposed to tag 7 other people, but I'm not going to do it. If you'd like to do it, then go for it!

Meme!

Books I've Read Recently that were pretty good:
Barefoot Gen, volume 1 by Keiji Nakazawa - I inadvertently read this on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb being dropped. The manga was drawn in the 1970s and the art is not that great, but the story is heartwrenching, following a family living in Hiroshima during World War II. The father is anti-war, and his family is treated horribly because of it. The end of the first volume almost made me cry at work, it was so sad. Still, it's interesting to read about World War II from a Japanese perspective, and this series has been pretty influential in both the worlds of Japanese manga and American comics.

Vampire Knight, volume 1 by Matsuri Hino - Students, vampires, guns, pretty school outfits, and gorgeous men dripping with blood. A more in-depth review is here! It's things like this that convince me that Twilight would work much better as a shoujo manga.

Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki - This is a one-shot graphic novel written and drawn by two cousins. I'll just copy the Publishers Weekly reviw, 'cause they said it all:
Skim is an articulate, angsty teenager, the classic outsider yearning for some form of acceptance. She begins a fanciful romance with her English teacher, Ms. Archer, while nursing her best friend through a period of mourning. The particulars of the story may not be its strong suit, though. It's Jillian's artwork that sets it apart from the coming-of-age pack. Jillian has a swooping, gorgeous pen line-expressive, vibrant and precise all at once. Her renderings of Skim and her friends, Skim alone or just the teenage environment in which the story is steeped are evocative and wondrous. Like Craig Thompson's Blankets, the inky art lifts the story into a more poetic, elegiac realm. It complements Mariko's fine ear for dialogue and the incidentals and events of adolescent life. Skim is an unusually strong graphic novel-rich in visuals and observations, and rewarding of repeated readings.

Crimson Hero volumes 1-5 by Mitsuba Takanashi -
The sports genre is pretty huge in manga, but it is almost always about a boys' sports team. This seris has a female protagonist who loves volleyball and will do anything to play it, even if it means leaving home while still in high school. Nobara is a strong heroine who actually cals the men in her life on their shit, when they act inappropriately. In fact, in the first volume, she punches one of her love interests in the face shortly after meeting him. I love this series, and I want to read more!

Call me "Grace"

2008-08-06T14:56:00.000-05:00

So I totally fell down the stairs at work today. Not just one stair, but six of them - metal ones.

I was next to my boss's office and he came running out of it, seeing if I was okay. I assured him that I was, but returned to the office after making a trip to the bathroom, deciding that perhaps I should disinfect the area on my knee larger than a quarter, where there was no longer skin.

The knee didn't hurt until I disinfected it - I don't know, it's the surface of my knee, so there isn't a lot of feeling there. I think that there are going to be various bruises on my arms and legs.

Of course, there have been inappropriate jokes speculating whether people will wonder if my boyfriend beats me, when I tell them, "I fell down the stairs."

What I need is more time.

2008-08-06T08:15:00.004-05:00

I am still settling into my apartment. It takes a while! By the time I get home from work, cook dinner (OMG guys, I'm cooking things!), and put perhaps a box of things away, it's time to take a shower and go to bed. I suppose that eventually, everything will get put away and I can have people over.

I got myself out to UPS before 6pm last night, but there's something wrong with the stuff I received from AT&T, because neither Antoine nor I can get it to work.

Internet, I am going through withdrawal and it is not pretty.

I am taking pictures of the food I'm cooking (last night, tamales; tonight, who knows), and will share them once I am able. Because I am that proud of my ability to heat and combine different food.

This weekend, I look forward to taking a trip to Milwaukee to visit some old friends.

:)

2008-08-03T19:49:00.003-05:00

So, I still don't have Internet yet (UPS keeps trying to deliver the box when I'm at work, so I think I'm just going to have to wait until their "third attempt" and then drive out to Middleton and get it from their office myself), but aside from that, things are looking good.

I love my new apartment. Things are nowhere near presentable; I'm not finished unpacking yet.

But the scale cut-out map I made of the floor plan and my furniture worked out quite nicely. Everything fits the way I want it to, and now I just have to finish putting everything away.

I think that the thing I love most is having my own kitchen (as well as my own everything).

I'm looking forward to being able to invite my friends into my home once more.

Kristy and Chad moved into their apartment yesterday, too. All told, the people who helped included my mom, Julie, Kevin, Chad's parent's, Chad's sister, Kristy's parents, Kristy's sister, Antoine, and our neighbor, who drove down to Oshkosh because Chad's parents' truck broke down, and drove them and the trailer all the way here to Madison. And now the three of us have places of our own, that are relatively close to each other. I feel closer to everything; I love the location of my new apartment.

Last night, I laid down in my freshly-made bed and surveyed all of the space that is MINE, and I have to say, Internet, I haven't felt this happy and relaxed in a long time.

People, you should badger me into taking and posting pictures of my place, once I get the Internet set up.

EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING.

2008-07-31T22:42:00.001-05:00

So, I should be showered and asleep by now, but instead I've dashed over to Antoine's for a quick Internet fix, first.

BECAUSE THIS STORY IS SO FUNNY.

I haven't moved many things into my apartment yet, but tonight my friend Nina helped me take some books into the room. As I unloaded them, I felt like an idiot. See, I keep this plastic thing of Holy Water on top of one of my bookshelves. Just 'cause. You don't hide Holy Water in the closet, you know? Anyway, so when I packed up the books from that bookshelf, I just threw the plastic tube-like thing of it on top.

When Antoine and I went to my apartment last night, I parked too far away to easily carry the boxes of heavy books, so they stayed in my car all day today.

And you know, heat expands and shit.

So, half of the Holy Water has blessed a few books, including Fushigi Yugi manga. But I am most amused that the book that got the worst of it was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer one - a volume of Tales of the Slayers. I LOL forever.

My apartment is looking good, and I'm eager to take pictures of it once it's finished (readers should badger me for these). Thus far, my pots and pans are there, my winter coats, a few sweatshirts, my blankets, my printer, power cord, and one bookshelf, the books that go on it, and 1.5 shelves' worth of more books, for good measure. Tomorrow I'm going to take my refrigerator magnets there on my lunch break, :D

At this point, though, I feel like an idiot for not taking tomorrow off. Oh well, it will be easier to wait for more people to help me anyway.

THE DAY IS ALMOST HERE, OMF!!

I live!

2008-07-31T10:41:00.005-05:00

I have lots of manga to write about, and life is going well. I just won't have Internet at home for a few days, and I'm busy packing things and deciding things, and being ridiculously excited about things.

Mountains of stress and anxiety are about to be removed from my life, and I am anticipating lots of happiness.

There is a detailed update to the bomb scare on Capitol Square situation here. I'm surprised that they still had Concerts on the Square yesterday!

I'll try to keep notes of things that should be going in the blog. For now, a conversation between Antoine and I!

Me: I'm hungry!
Antoine: I don't know what I'm doing for dinner; let's go out to eat!
Me: I don't want to spend money!
Antoine: I can take care of it. (Antoine's job is more financially lucrative than mine.)
Me: I feel bad making you pay all the time!
Antoine: Well, I don't feel bad, but if you do, I guess that I can respect that.
Me: Well...I am pretty hungry....

And then we went to Vientianne Palace. :D I'm eating the leftovers for lunch, today! Squash curry with chicken FTW!

]:

2008-07-30T12:59:00.003-05:00

I alluded to yesterday's happenings in my last post, but another backpack has been found outside the Capitol today. (Yesterday, a flaming backpack was found hanging from a tree, above a pair of boots. The explosive inside the backpack was set off in a controlled setting, and it shattered a window of Walgreen's).

Yesterday, we kind of brushed it off as a random crazy occurrence, but the fact that it's occurred twice is a little unsettling. They were starting to tape off one-fourth of the Square when I was on my way out of the building on an errand. There aren't many details available about today's discovery yet...just a lot of police tape.

AP article here.

This weekend is going to be ridiculous.

2008-07-30T09:41:00.002-05:00

Kristy, Chad, and I are all moving into our new apartments (granted, they are moving into the same one). I think I'm also going to be missing at least three social events due to this. Oh well. I can't even explain in words how excited I am to move. Holy crap.

Like I said, though. It promises to be heinous. I should also give a thank-you to friends who have offered to help, but I think that there will be more than enough people. Indeed, I emphasize the more than enough.

Case in point being the e-mail I received from my sister yesterday afternoon:

Hello, Jacqueline.
Kevin [my bro-in-law] is attempting to line up a baby-sitter so we're both able to accompany Mom & [Chad's sister] to Madison on Saturday morning.

* If possible, I was thinking perhaps Mom & I would be most beneficial helping with the 'set-up'.

Would it be possible for Mom & I to do things like putting away your kitchen stuff, your bathroom stuff, making your bed, lining your cupboards with paper, dusting your bookcases, etc. Then Kevin, Chad, Antoine, etc. could deal with the actual moving of the heavy stuff.

Take pictures of ANY defects in the apartment: knicks in the woodwork, holes in the wall from pictures, etc.
Do you have: a hammer? a screwdriver? nails?
Do we need to bring anything from G.B.?
Do you have new sheets? If yes, do they need to be washed?
Do you have a vacuum?
Drop off your cleaning supplies at the new apartment.
Have the air conditioning on for Mom & me.
Plug in & turn on the fridge. Make ice.
Do you have liner for your kitchen cupboards?
Would you prefer Puppy Chow or Chex Mix? I can also pick up a variety of Fruit2O water from Sam's & bring that.
Do you have curtains? If yes, leave out an iron & board for us.

Who even writes e-mails like that?! Also, I laugh forever because my sister thinks that I own an iron.

I am considering writing up a document that say something like "I understand that Jackie [my last name] has already discarded all unwanted items, and I agree that at no point will I ask her questions with any meaning remotely resembling Are you sure you don't want to throw this away? I understand that everything not already thrown away is a desired item, including (but not limited to) shirts and blouses owned by Jackie since the age of 13, action figures, notes and syllabi from college, or comic books." and making Julie and my mom sign them. We'll see how bored I get at work today, :)

And now, a linkspam.
--A friend I made at Wiscon has made a really nice fan-vid for Battlestar Galactica. There are spoilers through the last aired episode (4.10?).

--I find this picture of Tahmoh Penikett, Joss Whedon, and Eliza Dushku hilarious. Eliza Dushku (actress who was on Buffy, Angel, Tru Calling) and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) are going to star in Joss Whedon's new TV show, Dollhouse, that starts airing in January of 2009.

--Entertainment Weekly had a nice 6-page article about Dr. Horrible, interviewing Joss Whedon (creator) and Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day (stars), and possibly some other people on how it came together, etc.

--There was a a suspicious package outside of the Capitol yesterday. A postal worker extinguished it with Gatorade. Around 4:30pm, we were told to stay away from windows in the East Wing, which caused a minor freakout.

--News from Orson Scott Card (author of Ender's Game, other various novels): Gay marriage is ruining democracy! Where do these people come from?!

--Lastly, I have no link, but LOL TED STEVENS, and WTF Brett Favre?!

Updation

2008-07-29T07:22:00.002-05:00

I'm throwing away stuff as I prepare to move. Most of it is paper, going straight to the recycling bin. But I'm also trying to make a point of holding on only to things that I think I will use or need. What I find most difficult is convincing myself that even if a nick-nack item was given to me as a gift, it's okay to throw it away, if you will never, ever use it.

I'm kind of a pack-rat by nature, but I love things to be clean, organized, and functional. Spacious closets have facilitated bad habits, apparently. But the act of throwing things out has been pretty liberating.

I think that most amusing thing(s) I've been throwing out are the bookmarks from Half-Price Books. They are on this huge "green" push, so every time make a purchase, you are given a paper bookmark that encourages you to "go green!" This is an endless source of humor for me.

The weekend was both relaxed and productive. On Friday, I watched Buffy with Sandy, and then Antoine and I ate dinner with Kristy and Chad. On Saturday, I had dinner with my cousin Molly, who was visiting Madison, and a couple of her friends. The rest of the weekend was spent organizing or relaxing. I think it's been a while since I had a weekend with so much free time, so it was nice. I was even able to mow the lawn, although it ended up wiping me devoid of energy for the rest of Sunday.

I have lots of open Firefox tabs, so I expect there to be a linkspam of some sort later tonight.

Oh yeah! I'm due for a huge post on Tsubasa (I think I'm now through volume 21 or 22....OMF REVELATIONS!), but I did want to post about volume 10 of xxxHolic....
OMG IT WAS SO GOOD!! HIMAWARI-CHAN, HOW COULD I EVER NOT HAVE LOVED YOU?!

ALSO, WATANUKI/DOUMEKI FOREVERRRRR! And what's up with the Watanuki/clone!Syaoran connection?!

Spastic Squee

2008-07-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

OMF you guys, I wish that I could go to Comic-Con!! So many cool people are there! I would talk to Faith Erin Hicks and Bryan Lee O'Malley! And Joss Whedon and Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion and everyone else and their moms!

Luckily, people who are there are taking pretty pictures of the cast of Dr. Horrible!

And these pictures are less pretty, but it describes most of the Dr. Horrible panel, and includes multiple video clips.

I know that lots of anime announcements are made at Anime Expo. Do they make any at Comic-Con, too? Or does it just make more sense that they would make manga announcements at Comic-Con? I know that they announced a book about CLAMP's influence in America (which sounds AMAZING, by the way!), but I haven't heard much else.

Here I investigated for myself, before posting, and I guess manga announcements *are* made. Viz has licensed 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urusawa! That's the guy who wrote Monster (an amazing manga and anime series, if you haven't seen it), and I've heard good things about 20th Century Boys as well.

Oh, hey! And the new Studio Ghibli movie opened in Japan.

OMG, MORE BLACK LAGOON IS BEING RELEASED LATER IN AUGUST!

WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THAT BACCANO! GOT LICENSED?

And Penny doesn't seem to care / That soon the dark in me is all that will remain

2008-07-24T22:42:00.003-05:00

It's probably at my most stressed out times that I have the most important things to say.

And yet, it's also true that it's at my most stressed out times, I will say the things I shouldn't say.

Thus, I tend not to say anything at all.

But take heart, Dear Reader.

Here is Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, Dr Horrible, How I Met Your Mother, etc.) as the Shoe Fairy. (I would have embedded it, but that option was disabled at YouTube.com)

Current Music: I Cannot Believe My Eyes - Dr Horrible

Anyone with half a brain / Could spend their whole life howling in pain

2008-07-23T23:53:00.000-05:00

It's been a whirlwind of a few days. When home for the weekend, I was able to go to Dylan's baseball game at 8am Saturday morning. I spent all of Saturday with my sister and her family, all the way up to watching the series finale of Avatar with Mia, who was curled up and asleep next to me on the couch by the end.

On Sunday, I attended a bridal shower for another neighbor of mine, and was then able to give Kristy a ride back to Madison, with her being back from her week-long post-wedding trip to Chicago with Chad.

Monday saw margaritas, Wiscon book club (and an amaretto sweet). Book Club books have been great lately, by the way! I adored Zadie Smith's White Teeth, and also thoroughly enjoyed Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword. I promptly followed this with a manga binge, and now I'm back in the middle of at least 3 novels.

Tonight, I scored a Banana Republic blouse for $5 at Ragstock, and generally enjoyed the company of a co-worker, Kristy, Antoine, and The Hammer.

Life is at once intense and relaxed, but overall good. Summer is better when it is not quite so hot.

And then I posted a linkspam

If you're planning on buying the movie Serenity but haven't yet done so, you can get it for $5.99 through Best Buy's site here.

Serei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit) is going to air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. That's pretty sweet. I have still only seen the first episode of this show, but it looked pretty awesome.

Creator Joss Whedon gives information on his new TV show, Dollhouse, and how its pilot was rewritten. Don't freak out, it's not going to be a repeat of the Firefly fiasco.
A larger story about a press tour with Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku.

Dollhouse will apparently have webisodes!

7 Ways a Library Can Help You During a Bad Economy.

42" tall Angel puppet!

Current Music: I Cannot Believe My Eyes - Dr Horrible

Spreading Dr. Horrible

2008-07-21T00:12:00.001-05:00

I've thought about this a bit the last couple of days.

I didn't watch the TV show Firefly (also created by Joss Whedon) when it was on the air, because I didn't know about it.

It certainly isn't overly necessary to pimp Dr. Horrible to the LiveJournal crowd because they've either seen it or read at least 5 posts about it on their Friends List. But who else have you told about Dr. Horrible, offline?

I've found it pretty easy to get other people to watch it. It's short, it has recognizable actors, and lots of people like musicals.

Getting people to watch it (and like it) might get them to buy the CDs, or the DVDs, when they become available.

It might get more people on the Whedon Wagon, and it might get more people to watch Dollhouse when it airs (in January?), thereby keeping it on the air.

So yes, I feel like it's most important to persuade mainstream people to try it out. I've found "Hey, did you know that the guy who played Doogie Howser is starring in an online musical that you can watch for free? It's pretty neat." I also usually point out that the first couple of minutes are slow.

I even directed two of my co-workers to meta posts on LiveJournal so that they could handle the end a little bit better.

Of course, there are always people like Antoine, who watch the first two minutes and then tell you that he didn't like it.

"But, Jackie!" you say, "This entire post is useless! Dr. Horrible is no longer available, as of midnight tonight!" And to you, dear reader, I would point you to Dr Horrible's Myspace page, where the header reads Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog may not leave just yet...
Use this opportunity to spread it even more!

As a side note, I think my favorite songs from Dr Horrible are Everything You Ever, I Cannot Believe My Eyes, Brand New Day (duh!), and Slipping. Slipping feels A LOT like Phantom of the Opera, to me.