- Created By bellpickle
Loot from the Japanese Grocery!
So my sister and her boyfriend offered to buy me candy and snacks from Mitsuwa a few days ago. They let me buy a couple questionable things, namely a couple of toy-looking items. The pictures on the boxes seemed like plastic figures, but there were Nutrition Facts labels that said the box contained chewing gum. So we thought, maybe it looks like toys but is actually gum?
The funniest part is, the reason why these boxes caught my eye is because one set features small models of characters from Gundam 00. So it was like:
Me: omg, I know this anime.
Sister: Is it made out of gum, then? You can bite the person's head off!
Me: This is soooo weird.... ok, I'll get one.
So when I opened it all up, it turns out they all were plastic toys after all. The toy just happens to come along with a little chiclet-looking piece of gum. :P
I think I ended up getting the dessert set. The thing in the middle looks like Mitsumame. I have no idea what the hell the thing on the left is, though. It's brown and it looks like there's an egg yolk on top as well as that white sticky stuff the chopsticks are pinching. Seriously, what is that. @_@
Oh well. Let's hope Allelujah has a sweet tooth. :3
MONSTER
My friend finally finished editing his music video of Lady Gaga's Monster. (Which I was heavily involved in the production of.)
The video took a total of three days to produce, preparation time included. It was certainly stressful and there were times when my friends and I were fed up with each other, but overall, it was definitely a fun experience. :)
Warning for some shocking imagery. In more ways than one. ^^;;
My mentor (who has now graduated ;_;) filmed most of the video, but I filmed a couple scenes towards the end. ^^;
A bit of trivia: other than the mad scientist, all the outfits were made using scarves and safety pins. :)
:D
Firstly, thank you to everyone who sent me gifts and wished me a happy birthday yesterday! And a special thank you to Felcie and Ritona Raito for their e-cards and SakuraDust for her wallpaper. :)
Went to Chinatown with my family for lunch. I ate shabu shabu for the first time! Afterwards, I finally saw How to Train Your Dragon 3D, which I've been wanting to see for over a month now. Then we snuck into another theatre to watch Iron Man 2... which I was okay with because the tickets for 3D movies are absurdly expensive! We didn't feel quite so robbed once we watched a second movie. ^^;
BUT in anime news: I just finished a wonderful series called Glass Mask. The manga began serialization in 1976 and the story is only just wrapping up. It's one of those series that's really popular in Japan and considered a classic there, but is hardly known in the US. And since my favorite anime holds a similar status, I figured this would probably be worth checking out.
I also started watching this because the plot revolves around acting, and you all know how much I love Skip Beat! Glass Mask ended up being way more about acting than Skip Beat!; the Skip Beat manga is really only 60% about acting, whereas Glass Mask is about 95% acting. Even the romance in Glass Mask is much more closely tied in with acting, which is quite a feat considering that the main love interest isn't even an actor. Both series cover some similar things: both leads are method actresses, both are newbs at the start of the series, both have a tendency to completely recreate characters and "make them their own," and both grow and transform as people through acting. However, in Skip Beat!, the love revenge subplot is too important for the story to focus on acting as much as Glass Mask does... and I do think that, from a technical standpoint, Skip Beat! suffers from that lack of focus. To sum up my opinion on this comparison, Skip Beat! is more entertaining and fun, but Glass Mask is more focused and refined.
One of the aspects of Glass Mask that I loved most was the main character, Maya's rivalry with another young actress named Ayumi. This rivalry is a lot less conventional than others. Their only real connection to each other is acting. In fact, they hardly even talk to each other throughout the series. But their rivalry isn't any less intense because of it; in a lot of ways, you could say their acting abilities speak for them. And since their relationship is like this, they have immense respect for each other that is never truly compromised no matter how envious they get of the other. And most interestingly, the power play between the two isn't what it seems at the onset. At first, Ayumi is the typical "unreachable" rival, who has all the talent and privilege in the world, whereas Maya is the typical underdog who has nothing other than raw potential. By the end of the series, it's really interesting to see what their rivalry has developed into... but saying anything more would be a spoiler. :P
BUT. The absolute, best, most WONDERFUL aspect of the show for me was Maya's relationship with Mr. Purple Roses. These acting anime come up with the best het pairings, I swear. Mr. Purple Roses (which is a pseudonym, yes :3 ) is a fascinating character and one that definitely creeps up on you as the series trudges along. He's one of those tragic types who keeps others at a distance, even though deep down on the inside, he's a really kind and generous person. And because he's like this, the main character ends up erroneously assuming a lot of bad things about him... I ended up loving this guy, even though he a small part of him is a genuine jerkass. You know, instead of a fake jerkass like Tsuruga Ren. :3
The introductory episodes are a little... overdramatic and the ending sucks since the manga is still not finished, but otherwise, the series is pretty consistent and the drama levels are relatively normal throughout. (For a shoujo series, at least.) So yeah... if you like anime such as Skip Beat! or Kaleido Star, this is probably worth looking into. :)
One last thing: the Seniors at Kenyon are graduating tomorrow. And to celebrate, I made this for my Senior friends:
Posted it to Facebook earlier today. I hope they like it. Especially since, time spent searching for pics included, it took longer to make than my wallpaper! @_@;;
DAMNIT SQUARE
THEY'RE RELEASING BIRTH BY SLEEP WHEN I'M IN CHINA. NOW I WON'T GET TO PLAY IT UNTIL WINTER.
RRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH
