TFC.net

I had a dream last night in which I was pregnant. It was really quite enjoyable, so much so that when I woke up I was a little dissappointed that it wasn't true. It's funny how one's body clock can be not so subtle at all when it wants.

I watched a lot of Honey and Clover yesterday, I think I'm up to episode 8 now. I like Mayama, but maybe only because he looks like Mr Thompson. I'm rooting for Mayama x Yamada, and Takemoto x Hagu I suppose, but I don't want Morita to feel left out. And their teacher is cool too.

*does the "I've just put up a new page of Clematis" dance*

Yup.

I've been meaning to write here for days, but I just haven't gotten around to doing it. I mostly keep finding myself in front of the TV these days.

Let's see; my lectures have started and for the moment (this week at least) I haven't been doing too much work, if any. My schedule is also pretty empty, which means plenty of spare time to breed laziness on my part.

On Monday I bought myself a copy of the new Franz Ferdinand album, which is much yay. I also bought the DVD of the first series of the Mighty Boosh, because I saw it in the shop and it tempted me.

On one day this week (I forget which) Steve and I watched the complete first series of Spaced. It took ages, but oh how funny it is. We're halfway through the second series now.

On a later day Steve's new home cinema system turned up. We tested it with Kill Bill 2, and watched all of that (only the second time I've seen it!). Later that evening we tested it by watching FOTR, hopefully we'll watch the other two soon.

On Friday I actually stopped being such a recluse and went out to a club with Nick and Steve and lots of Nick's friends who I don't know, one of which was dressed as David Hasselhoff. I haven't been out in ages so it was a nice change I suppose. I was just beginning to decide that I didn't like it, when that all changed because they played Franz Ferdinand twice. But lordy, to see how many of the songs I didn't recognise because I haven't been in the country for a while, it was a little strange.

Yesterday Steve and I went to the cinema to go see Serenity (or Serendipity as Steve likes to call it). Nick declined to come along because his hangover was making him spazz out. Sometimes you go to the cinema to see a History of Violence with Viggo Mortensen, but find that it has been sold out so you have to go see Serenity instead. This may have happened yesterday. As it was, Serenity was good. It was nice to see that, like Buffy, the script was full of lots of funny lines. The atmosphere of the film was good, the characters were all likeable, apart from River (aka. angsty girl) and her angsty brother. Sadly the plot, while exciting, seemed a little thin. It felt like it deserved to be more convoluted than trying to cause some scandal amongst the parliament, which you know is just going to be swept under the carpet and forgotten about. So yes, enjoyable film, but it needed to be more fleshed out and substantial plot-wise IMO.

Amongst all this I have been watching yet more things. I started downloading Honey and Clover, because I have heard good things about it. I've only seen two episodes so far so I can't really say, but it looks like it'll be a funny yet heart-warming series, ah.

I've finally caught up with the subbed releases of Tsubasa Chronicle. I like the Outo arc, so it's all good for me at the moment. It's a shame Fay didn't get drunk as a lord, but only really because there will be no later confrontation about him having a higher alcohol tolerance than he let on. Kurogane's fight with Seishirou was awesome, I actually enjoyed it more in it's animated form than in the manga o_o I also love the fact the Seishirou's theme tune is sleazy jazz ^_^

Speaking of which (Seishirou, not the jazz), I just downloaded and watched the Tokyo Babylon live action movie!!! Woo! How exciting! The movie itself was a little...low-budget, but maybe that adds to its charm. I don't really have much to say about it without adding spoilers for the manga (it takes place after the end of the TB manga). I hope someone subs it so I can get a feel of what's going on a bit more. And I really need to buy and read some more X sometime.

I have to go draw now.

Clematis Update

And now I have to go straight to bed because I have to present a poster tomorrow.

I've mostly finished my report!!

It's been sent to my boss now for her to look over and tell me what's wrong with it.

Meaning: It's out of my hands for now!

*dance dance*

Also, classes start tomorrow, but I don't have any until Tuesday. Double woo!

Just dropping by quickly to let you know that I am still alive.

I returned to Bath on Saturday, and while it is nice to be back, I do have a lot of coursework to finish before the week is up.

And while I may not actually be getting much work done at all, I feel too guilty, about wasting my time, to post here.
Hopefully by next week I'll all be done, yes.

And I finished watching Gankutsuou yesterday. What a brilliant series it was, I got quite emotional.

*zooms away*

So my Dad comes up to my room and points a CD in my direction,

"Have you heard of this band?" he said.

I took the CD and turned it over. It was only a copy of the new Franz Ferdinand album that my Dad had downloaded wasn't it?

:D :D :D <3 <3 <3

Although in some ways I'm dissappointed. Not with the music though! Oh no! I was worried that maybe their second album wouldn't live up to the first, but after I've listened to it a couple of times I can say that that is not the case. I will, of course, have to listen to it further to decide how much I like it though.
What I mean is; I was quite enjoying the building excitement from waiting for the release of the album, and there weren't many days left. And then I had it suddenly thrust upon me. It almost feels like, if you will, looking in the wardrobe and finding the Christmas presents your Mum has bought you, in November. It feels kind of wrong and almost like the whole surprise has been spoiled a little, the magic has been ruined.

And so, with regret, I shall listen to the album now, but I shall leave it with my Dad and buy myself a spanking new copy when it comes out. Because I really like Franz Ferdinand and I want to have a proper version of their new album dammit (I always felt a little ashamed that I never got a proper copy of their first album).

That being said...

:D :D :D Woot!

lucky lucky you're so lucky

I'm not even going to pretend that this isn't a poor attempt at jaffing from my work. Ah well. Have a photo of Oslo for yourselves.

Not too much of note has happened. I finished watching the mighty boosh, it was good, although I'm a little sad that there wasn't so much banter between Vince and Howard, because that could throw out some real gems.

I finished reading Angels and Demons. It was a little exciting at the end I suppose, but it was not on a par with the da Vinci Code. There was just less interesting "facts" and more plot, which, to be honest, is not the best in the world. So no, I was no way near as gripped as I was with the da Vinci Code. If I ever do this book crossing thing, I think that this'll be a book I won't mind parting with, although I should really send off some better books instead.

I found out that the song 'Do you want to' by Franz Ferdinand is going to be the ending theme for the new anime of Paradise Kiss. I've never read Paradise Kiss, so I've no idea what it's like, but I think I can see myself watching the anime just because of the song. Not that I don't have too much to watch anyway and no time to do it.

I would also like to make a new layout for tinnedfruitconundrum.net, but that would mean drawing a new picture and then coding it all and I really don't have the time. *mope mope* Why do I always get so inspired when I have much more important work to do?

I'll be returning to Bath on Saturday if I don't see you before then.
Cheery-pip.

I meant to do it last Thursday, but I ran out of time: Clematis has been updated.

You see, I couldn't update it at the weekend, because I was in Oslo being cold.
James is currently studying in Oslo for a few months, and so Steve and I hopped on a plane and sped over the North Sea to see him. It was nice, both seeing James again and Oslo.

If there is any city that is the most different to New York, it would have to be Oslo. There's just no comparing the two and, believe me, I tried! Oslo is small and quiet and surrounded by countryside and expensive, but lets not dwell on that. It had a very nice atmosphere. Norwegians strike me as being calm, sensible and considerate people; it made me quite ashamed to see how environmentaly friendly they are. And they all speak English, nearly almost fautless too; which also makes me ashamed because I cannot speak any other languages at all.

So we walked around a little and saw the Olympic ski jump and ate sausages and walked in some hills and went on a boat and saw the King's house and stuff. While outside the Viking museum, which was closed so we couldn't go in, Steve found a BookCrossing book, which is cool. I'd never heard about this book crossing thing before, but I'm very taken with the idea, I may release some books of my own, but I don't really want to part with any, I may have to buy some for the purpose. *excited*

*mope* But now I have to go do more coursework.

Credit goes to Steve for pointing out this one to me:

We Are Scientists. The music is good, but not only that, their website happens to be the funniest thing since sliced bread. The music videos are darn funny too, especially 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt'.

Arctic Monkeys are not funny at all, but the music is great. You can listen to more of their stuff here.

Finally!
I've just finished downloading the last few episodes of Gankutsuou!

Now all I need is time to watch them.

*hopes for a happy ending*

So, I've just watched Tsubasa Chronicle episode 12 (I'm getting through them fast! I've nearly downloaded all 20 available so far) and I think this has been one of the best episodes I've seen.

I thought it would be really boring in a not much happening sort of a way, but that might be the key. It sounds crazy, but I think that the pacing was faster and more enjoyable because there was no action. In previous episodes, because they didn't want to animate much action, probably on account of it being too expensive or something, they resorted to close ups of peoples faces and exciting music and lots of people standing around. The timing just normally seems too slow.
Whereas, take out the action, and you take out the long pauses, and it makes for a better programme. Or something like that, maybe this episode was just animated better and it had nothing to do with the content.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to post, and it's just a little thing, but the episode reminded me. I want to know, how on Earth are Fujitaka and Clow standing next to each other, at the same time, and even holding a conversation? This is one of the biggest mysteries of the manga to me, and it makes me all kinds of confused when I try to work it out.
Seriously, it shouldn't be possible, for the sake of my sanity. I wonder if it confuses them too?
Unless of course *inspiration* one of them comes from a different world! It would probably be Clow, the cheeky devil.
And I'm not even going into how Clow could be the father of Fujitaka's children, because that confuses me even more. Maybe Fujitaka really is the father and Clow adopted the children for some unknown reason, or maybe Clow stole some of Fujitaka's gametes and did some strange kind of in vitro fertilisation thingy. And OMG what if Fei Wan Reed is the mother? *stupid*

And even in the anime, young Sakura is really cute. I can't help but find her utterly adorable. Awwwww.

Hello ^_^ *waves*

*bounds in* Hello!

*double take* Er, hi Moo. Hi *waves again*
Do you know what time it is?

Ummmm....

No? Can you guess? :)

Is it bath time? :D

No. Although bath time is lots of fun isn't it?
:D It's time to sing that song. Can you remember it?

I love that song!

Super! ^_^ It's time to sing the 'Janine hasn't done much work and feels quite bad about it, but still doesn't work any harder, when she realy should because she only has two weeks left and she's spending four of those days in Oslo' song.

:D Are you ready?

*nods nods*

Is everybody else ready? Should we all sing it together?
OK ^_^ I'll count to three and then we can sing. Ready? Good.

1...
2...
3...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!

Smashing :) What a lovely song. That was lots of fun wasn't it?
I don't know about you, but I'm quite tired now. I think it's time for us to go.

Awww. *looks at feet*

Goodbye *waves* ^_^
Say goodbye Moo.

Goodbye Moo.

Hahaha ^_^
Goodbye *wave wave*

*lower curtain and applause*

I am meant to be writing my 40 page report on the work I did in new york. Sadly, I currently seem to have the attention span of a tadpole, if said tadpole were trying to write a 40 page report about a genetically modified protein and it's future uses, which is particularly hard if the tadpole has broadband internet access and no hands with which to type.

I watched the first episode of the new series of Nighty Night yesterday. It makes me feel awful when I watch it, but it is funny. It's almost a morbid curiosity kind of thing. I wonder if everyone will die at the end of this series.

I've been watching more of Tsubasa Chronicle (I'm up to episode 6 now I think). This neither makes makes me feel awful nor makes me laugh. In fact, it does little. I think the problem is that it is so slow. Scenes which should be exciting seem to have huge pauses in the middle of them. But I shall continue to watch, it's almost a morbid curiosity kind of thing.

Also, I am ill. Not bad, just a cold. But it's annoying enough to be annoying.

Now to work! Proteins ho!
(You know, biochemistry would be so much more interesting if more people said "Proteins ho!", and maybe I could have a special sword too.)

Whew, it's been a little busy since I've been back in the U of K. Also, I couldn't access my hotmail account for a good few days, which was a rather frustrating business. Anyway, I'm back now (and procrastinating from writing my report), and I have lots of stuff to talk about.

Firstly, I've been watching the new series of the Mighty Boosh, which my Mum was so kind to record for me while I was away. It's good, but I'll wait to watch more than two episodes before I pass judgement. Mostly though, I think the moon is great <3

While waiting for my flight, I decided to buy a copy of Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Seeing as I liked the Da Vinci code, I was hoping for some more of the same. Although, I have to say, I wasn't expecting it to be quite so similar! I am perhaps almost half-way through now, and the thing reads like an exact copy of the Da Vinci code, but just with a different love interest. Sadly though, it doesn't seem to be quite as interesting as the Da Vinci code, but some bits are interesting nonetheless.

As soon as I was in sight of a DVD player, I watched for myself my Tokyo Babylon OVA (I may have mentioned buying it, I forget). It was good, and I didn't have to worry after all, because it contained two stories, rather than just one. The second story, about the murders on the subway, was undoubtedly better than the first, and quite nerve-wracking in some places. I was worried that Hokuto was going to be annoying throughout the whole thing (that laugh!), but luckily she calmed down.
Seishiro was very good in this, in a 'kick-ass' sort of a way, which makes me warm to him a little more. Although this is all dispelled if I try to listen to the English dub; he sounds like an accountant!
The ending, especially of the second story, makes me sad in a pre-emptive kind of a way. I can't help it.

I also started watching some more anime. Now that I am not on a school network, I am quite happy to download all and sundry without fear of my internet connection being cut off. And so I am currently downloading the end of Gankutsuou (because I've been waiting for months to find out what happens).
I also decided to download: Tsubasa Chronicle! Yes, even though I heard it was awful, I wanted to try it out for myself. And, having watched 3 episodes so far, I can say that it is not so bad.
I was expecting the worst, so it doesn't strike me as horrendous. Admittedly some liberties have been taken with the storyline, and sometimes the characters are really ugly (Yuuko! My poor Yuuko!), and yes, there do seem to be a lot of scenes with exciting music, and nothing happening at all, but it's ok. Everyone knows that the book manga is always better than the film anime, so I don't mind it. Things I do like are, the music (yes I do!), the whole choral, tribal kind of sound is quite interesting, although it doesn't really suit Celes country that much, and I don't think too much of the comedy relief music. Touya and Yukito both looked good when they showed up, especially Touya. I don't mind the voices except Yuuko's Kurogane sounds like Kurogane should sound, as does Fay, which is a nice surprise, because I was really quite sure that he, if anyone, should be voiced by a woman. Fay's voice is soft, insincere and wishy-washy, so it suits him quite well, now if only he would open his eyes, I mean, I know he smiles a lot, but how on Earth does he see anything?! Mokona's voice is suitably annoying, and Mokona also makes a number of suitably annoying noises as well, but flying? Hmmmmm....
So yes, I shall continue to watch this, because it's not too bad, and I feel I should, as a fan of the manga.

Another thing that I have managed to get my grubby paws (lapa?) on since my return has been my X manga. I've been dying to pick this up again since I finished reading Tokyo Babylon, and so I read volume 8 in the space of, a very short space of time. I will now proceed to talk about it (click on read more for some mighty Volume 8, X spoilers, and spoilers for the whole of the Tokyo Babylon manga)

Full story »