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So, I've got many things to talk about. Firstly some boasting. I went shopping on Saturday, for the first time in ages. I got new boots, some new tops and two fabulous new belts that I really wanted to show off, but haven't managed to take a good photo of (one is bright red and amazing).

Secondly, I've been writing an essay on structure-based drug design. This means that the amount of procrastination I've been doing has upped significantly:

Before dinner yesterday I was going to write about virtual screening as a means of selecting molecules that bind with high affinity to the drug target. As it turns out, I made a wallpaper instead. My original aim was to make one of Kamui, but Tokyo Babylon came racing through in the final straight to finish ahead by a length and a half. But I do love Tokyo Babylon so, it is now the driving reason as to why I read X (but X will never be as interesting as Tokyo Babylon in my opinion).

Anyway, here it is. Take it if you like, it's 1280x800 (my stupid monitor size, I have to make all my wallpapers nowadays). The pictures came from here and the background pattern comes from here.

I have also been watching too many new anime series. Let's see...

Gakuen Heaven - looks very gay and also not a little boring. Hmmm, maybe it'll get interesting if I get into it? I'm not sure if I can be bothered.

Ouran High School Host Club - I like this, it's animated well and the character designs are very nice. Also, it's quite funny. Good good.

Nana - I really wasn't sure that I'd like this, at all. You see, I never really enjoyed Paradise Kiss, it may have looked nice, but I didn't like any of the characters. Luckily, Nana seems like a completely different kettle of fish in that department. All the characters seem endearing, especially cute and fluffy!Nana. Also, In my current situation and state of mind, I like stories about people moving to the big city to get a job and an apartment and all that jazz. Yes, I was nicely surprised by this one.

xxxHolic - Woooooo! Read more for episode 1 spoilers.

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I'm back home for Easter now ^_^

On the way home, my parents and I stopped off at Avebury. There is a stone circle there that dates back 5000 years or something stupid. There's also a large man made hill which I think is around the same age. It's really strange to see the stones, even if a few of them are missing now. Some of them are really large, and the circle itself is really wide, half the village is built in the middle of the thing. Very odd, you can't go there and not wonder what it all means. The road we left the village on had stones either side of it (it was like the road ran through an avenue of the stones), it felt kinda weird to go past those.

Yesterday I went on a baking spree again and made hot cross buns. A bit stodgey, but they tasted right.

Sadly, I watched Supersize Me yesterday and now I don't feel like eating them. I must eat only vegetables, fish and water otherwise I'll get a heart attack and die! (this'll last a day, then I'll be back on the prawn crackers again).

Also, the xxxHolic anime OP looks good, I like the music too. When is the subbed version of the first episode coming out? *impatient impatient*

I now have three weeks off for Easter! The holiday started well; I had an awesome weekend.

We went to Cardiff on Saturday for Siân's birthday party. I've never really been to a proper house party before. You know, the ones where the music is loud enough to annoy all the neighbours and people are still arriving at 2 in the morning, the ones where you wake up to find that the whole floor is sticky and that there's a random sleeping in the hallway.
We did a lot of dancing, and then some sleeping, and then drove home in the sun.

We had a pub Sunday roast when we got back yesterday; the best thing to eat on a Sunday.

All in all:
Sun + Easter holidays + Dancing = Super

I'll start doing coursework soon (God knows I've got enough to do).

Woo! It's almost Easter! Easter is super; there is blossom on the trees and the daffodils are growing, I had a hot-cross bun today! Yum yum yum.
Also, Easter means no uni for a few weeks! Finally, time to do my coursework instead of working in the lab all the time!

Hmm...I'm going to Rome for a bit at Easter too.

I should be writing an essay at the moment. But this essay is so hard for me to do that I think I got a hernia. So mostly, instead, I spent all weekend drawing a character profile for Sethmosis from my comic (it's about time he got one). I'll show you the picture here because I have no idea when the next Clematis update will be.

Hahaha! Did you think I was lying? Nah, I'm just mixing things up a bit. I did take the photo today, but the weather was nice. Alright, it was a bit rainy, but once the rain had gone it was so warm! I didn't have to wear my gloves or anything! You know, the more I describe the weather, the less nice it sounds, so I think I'll leave it there. It was nice though. Spring's on its merry way, I can feel it it my fingers, I feel it in my toes. Woah! Wet Wet Wet joke there! Coming at ya, be careful! Ow!

So I went to visit the masonic temple yesterday evening. It was so interesting! The whole place was packed full of masonic imagery and symbols. Dear lord, the curiosity beast had me by the ankles and was swinging me round. The building itself is interesting; I saw some 400 year old bits of wood. They had a room out the back for the knights templar. There's not much that perks up my interest more than mentioning the knights templar (I blame it entirely on the Borken Sword computer game of my youth). But, by crikey, I felt embarrassed when I admitted to reading the Da Vinci code! We weren't allowed to take photos, because they're worried that someone might go and spread them about, like putting them on the internets or something >_>
So. Much. Nonsensical. Tradition! I love it! The actual reality of being a mason sounds a bit boring though, unless you want to spend your nights sitting around with a bunch of conservative old men in aprons.

Went to Nando's for lunch today. I'm full of chicken now, like Bernard Matthews (shut up I know he does turkey).

I was on a proper baking spree yesterday. I baked both a quiche and a lemon meringue pie! I was astounded when the quiche actually tasted like quiche. The lemon meringue pie is still yet to be tested; we're eating it tonight.

Other things of note: I applied to two jobs this week, and will hopefully apply to another next week. I really need a job for once I graduate.
Speaking of which, I was looking into gown hire for my graduation. Not long now! Everything is happening so fast D:

Also, all things being well, I shall be visiting a real masonic temple tonight. They're having an open day believe it or not.
...I'm so excited :D

The new page is up!

Woo! Now, if only I'd draw more frequently...

I just spent all morning finishing of the next Clematis page. But! I can't log onto my FTP to upload it.

Just thought I'd let you know that one is on it's way. Watch this space, I'll let you know once it's up.

So it seems that I am still caught up in the throws of the Mighty Boosh. This has led me in the direction of two things.

1. New comedy. The sketch show, Snuff Box, with Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher (aka. Dixon Bainbridge and Bob Fossil). I couldn't watch it because it's on BBC3 and I'm digitally challenged, but I managed to download the third episode. It's like a funny mixture of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, the Mighty Boosh, Jam and a number of other series. I'm not sure what to make of it. It was definately funny in some places. I think I'll have to try and watch it some more.

2. Electro! I heard Zane Lowe play this song a couple of times and I quite liked it. It turns out that it is a song called Easy Love by MSTRKRFT. I had a listen to some of the songs they've remixed and I really enjoyed them. Go check them out and have a bit of a dance to yourself.

Turns out that I spent most of yesterday grinning like a loon after going to see the mighty boosh live. It was super.
I'm still not used to seeing people from the TV on stage, I get a little starstruck because I am somehow amazed that they look the same in person. It was also unusual to see so many fans of the mighty boosh in one place, I normally find it hard to come across anyone who likes the show. And what fans these people were, some of them had dressed up, some of them were sporting variations of Vince Noir's haircut, and all of them were really excited. There was much screaming and cheering anytime anyone came on stage. Half of the fun was recognising the characters and knowing what they were going to say. I don't really think that people who hadn't seen the TV show would enjoy it that much, but it is much much fun if you know the TV series.
The overall plot of the show seemed to be an amalgam of a number of plots from the TV series, with the best bits, characters and songs from each. The whole thing seemed like a bit of a shambles. Seriously, it would have been more professional if it was performed by a troup of bees. And as such, it was amazing. Whenever someone forgot their lines, or fell over, or in one case, ran into a pole, it was very funny.

Some highlights:

- Vince's spangly jumpsuit
- at one point a wolf-whistle came from a member of the audience, which caused Noel Fielding to remark, "Who are you whistling at? I'm an 80 year old rapist, he's a gorilla, and he's dead."
- Rich Fulcher (dressed as a Spaniard) actually spat at Vince (Noel). He really strikes me as a person who's a little unhinged and would do anything if it got a laugh. He is awesome.
- The cast laughing to themselves very frequently

In conclusion: woo!

I'm so excited!!

I'm going to see the Mighty Boosh live this evening!

Their TV show is one of the funniest things; this is going to be awesome :D

So the animation was a lot better than the TV series by Bee Train. There was actually good timing and action instead of lots of people standing around with exciting music. The character design looked better too.

Um, maybe spoilers in the next bit.

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I suppose I should finally put down my thoughts on the xxxHolic movie. I watched it almost as soon as I downloaded it, but I had to write a seminar over the weekend, so I've been pretty busy until now.

I won't be mentioning any spoilers so feel free to read on.

Firstly: I loved it! I don't think I was hoping for much, perhaps that's thanks to the Tsubasa Chronicle anime. So it was a very nice surprise when it actually turned out to be good. It had all the right elements that xxxHolic should have. It was a bit scary, it was a bit weird, and it was funny. Watanuki is quite funny when he's actually animated, it makes you realise how, for the want of a better word, animated he actually is. As for the other characters; Yuuko is just awesome and supercool, and Doumeki is, well, Doumeki. I actually enjoyed the animation a lot. I was a bit unsure when I saw the promotional pictures. The character designs are really long-limbed, and while this works for CLAMP because they actually keep the rest of the body in proportion, it makes the anime character designs look a bit weird. I really thought I wouldn't like it, but actually I think they pulled it off quite well. It turns out that the gangly-ness of the characters really adds to the weird feeling of the film and doesn't look out of place at all. As for the story, I'm not sure it's possible to get stranger, it reminded me a little of Alice in Wonderland; it was quite interesting.

So in conclusion; I am very happy with the way this film turned out, it seems like the essence of the manga was retained. I am so glad that Production IG will be making the TV series now.

Hmmm, xxxHolic movie, eh what?

More news once I watch it.