( My latest tattoo adventure )

( And we now return you to your regularly-scheduled fandom )

I have not been feeling great lately, so that's all for now.

mood: tired tags: anime, axis powers hetalia, foyle's war, tattoo, television, the man from uncle

Today, I got my Bachelor of Arts cum laude.

That is all.

mood: Sparkly

I saw that new Star Trek film the other day! It was... well. It was tremendous fun. Really, really fun. Unfortunately, I wonder if "fun" is the only compliment that I can give unconditionally. ( Spoilers on the starboard bow. )

Anyway! That's already a lot, so I'm going to stop writing and go interact with my houseguests now. In summary: see this goddamned movie because it's tremendously fun and entertaining, but don't expect your mind to be blown, and feel free to settle in and watch some original Star Trek afterwards to make your soul feel better and remind yourself what it means to love Captain James Tiberius Kirk.

Spawkward.

mood: Navel-Gazing tags: movie, star trek, star trek 2009

I finished Timothy Zahn's Night Train to Rigel the other day, and it got better, mostly.

What was good: holy shit, it is intriguing. I mean, this is one of those plots that is incredibly well put together, very intricate, and leaves few-to-no threads hanging. It's certainly the best thing about the book, pulling you along very effectively and keeping you excited even when you want to punch all of the characters in the throat. Just about every little detail was explained, even things that were casually mentioned at the beginning that I'd totally forgotten about. ( Vague spoilers ) The worldbuilding (universe-building?) is also pretty keen, with very decent amounts of attention paid to the various cultures and creatures that exist, without feeling too heavy-handed or as if the author was overly eager to show it off.

What was not good: ... sadly, this list is a little long, but I will preface it with the statement that it is mostly forgivable because the plot is more than enough to keep you reading. Alright, then. The characters were mostly (if not totally) unsympathetic, each for a different and entirely dislikeable reason; Frank and most of his friends are completely unlikeable, and Frank himself is particularly irritating because of how self-righteously and intentionally mysterious he is. ( Another vague spoiler )

Which brings me to Bayta. Oh, gods, Bayta. Everything is wrong with this character. ( and most of it is spoiler-ish. )

The other characters aren't much better. You can count on wanting them all to die horribly, but try to ignore them if you can, because as negative as I've been about everything else, it really is an entertaining read with a great story.

mood: sleepy tags: book, night train to rigel, timothy zahn

Well, I am not going to SakuraCon due to transportation hitches... but I AM going to UPenn come fall. It has been decided. Pending completion of my thesis, I will be an Ivy Leaguer.

Wow.

mood: Smart

Finished Silence of the Lambs earlier in the week. Good stuff, really good; it's incredibly gripping, and the writing is concise and punchy, and what really amazed me was how much research must have gone into it. There are a lot of very detailed descriptions of things, especially science and police procedures, and lots of terminology, and stuff. Anyway, I liked it, but it's really not for anyone who doesn't have a strong stomach and a high tolerance for creepy.

I'm speaking at a conference in a week and a half. Presenting my thesis, basically. I am so terrified.

This weekend is SakuraCon, to which I will be going mostly because Emma is going; well, I'm going to hang out at the convention center and work on my thesis, basically. No actual con admission, no hotel or anything. I need to be productive. I'll meet a couple folks from Seattle whom I haven't seen in a while, and see my parents and the kitties.

I'm trying very hard to make a decision about where I'll be next year. I won't hear back from the University of Washington for a long time, so... I feel like I ought to just accept the offer from U Penn. I mean, I want to. I think it'd be good for me on a lot of levels. But... I don't know. Mmf.

mood: Needy-like tags: book, the silence of the lambs

I finished One Corpse Too Many on Monday night, loved it the entire way through. Hugh Beringar surprised me by mananing to make me like him a lot, and ( here there be spoilers )it was super-good and everybody should read it.

Last night I started The Silence of the Lambs, perhaps a bad thing to do before bed, not because of the creepy-factor but because I had a very hard time stopping. It's very graphic, very gripping. Starling is an even better main character when you can see inside her head, really see the forces that are going on there. I'm fifty-four pages in, and sadly will probably not have the luxury to continue much, given that school is kicking my ass, but it's nice to have a book to return to when things chill out a little.

Also, I was accepted into University of Pennsylvania's post-baccalaureate program in classical studies. SCORE.

mood: Fan-Tabulous tags: book, brother cadfael, the silence of the lambs

I am reading One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters, on Emma's recommendation. It is superb. So much convoluted and neatly-woven plot, so many interesting characters, so much deliciously good writing.

I am officially a Brother Cadfael fanboy.

mood: Shiny tags: book, brother cadfael, thumbs up

Roommates and I finished Evangelion last night.

I... huh.

mood: Musing music: Gogol Bordello - Santa Marinella tags: anime, neon genesis evangelion

Been watching more original Star Trek with Emma. Judas Priest, the subtext between Kirk and Spock! They are so gay. So gay. The actors, writers, and camera guys all seem to be in cahoots to make this so. I love it.

mood: Interested tags: star trek, television

I finally found out what that "the cake is a lie" meme is from. Portal! Hah, I should play it. Although now that I know the context of the lie-cake, I think I would just be too crushed to continue at that point.

Incidentally, I want to make cake tonight, but I'm feeling awfully lazy.

I have been writing. This is good.

I have also been playing Katamari Damacy again. It occupied a frightening amount of my time during freshman year, largely because I was terrible at it; I've gotten much better, though, and today I finally unlocked the make-the-moon level on Eternity mode. Wheee.

Iron & Wine plus Calexico equals musicgasm.

Supernatural continues to be surprisingly attractive. Still working through the first season, fairly slowly, since the whole apartment likes to watch it together and we don't always have much time. Oh, oh, I saw Valkyrie last weekend for Valentine's Day, and it was actually quite entertaining. Tom Cruise's completely American accent was a little silly, and the huge variety of English accents and German accents and other unidentifiable accents was sort of weird. But, really, that's my only significant complaint about the film. It did a wonderful job with the dramatic tension, and apparently Eddie Izzard was in it? Anyway, yeah, I rather enjoyed it. We saw it at this awesome little movie theatre in Portland that was 21-and-over after mid-afternoon, and they had really tasty pizza, and little tables in the rows of seats so you could take your pizza into the theatre and eat it. And it was awesome.

I think that this is all of the fandom-related news to report.

mood: Dovish tags: katamari damacy, movie, music, portal, supernatural, television, valkyrie, video game

First off, I feel very fortunate that I don't attract much drama. *knocks on wood*

More importantly, fandom. The roommates and girlfriend and I watched some Doctor Who today (old-school, Tom Baker); whenever we get new DVDs via NetFlix, we tend to binge on them. I love Tom Baker's facial expressions. We've also been watching Supernatural somewhat casually, which has proven to be much more exciting than I initially expected. Jensen Ackles is about as pretty as his fangirls would have you believe, which is impressive. The show's power of atmosphere is almost as impressive. The most recent episode that we watched was the one with the faith healer and the reaper, and, fuck. Whoever it was that was playing said reaper was spot on, and I loved every second of his performance.

We have also put some time towards watching Neon Genesis Evangelion, and while I have a lot of thoughts and reactions to it, the only one that can be easily and conveniently iterated at two in the morning is, ( I guess it's a spoiler if you have never seen any of the show at all, so, cut. )

The girlfriend and I watched that condensed super summary special of the NHK Shinsengumi! Taiga drama thingy last week. Cruel fate gave us no subtitles, so she translated what she could of the important bits, but I think watching the full series with subtitles will be much more enjoyable.

Oh, also, my mother sent me a little Barnes & Noble gift card because my grades landed me on an honors list of some sort. I bought a book of cookie recipes, a CD, and Night Train to Rigel by Timothy Zahn. Looking forward to all of these things.

mood: Fan-Tabulous music: I got no time for private consultation under the Milky Way tonight tags: anime, book, doctor who, neon genesis evangelion, shinsengumi, supernatural, television

October Sky was on AMC today; I watched the last half of it or so. I saw the film when it came out in theatres (I suddenly feel really young again, because I was eleven, then, I think), and it's nice to see that it is actually a really darned good film.

It is interesting to see that Homer Hickam Jr. writes; I should take a look at his fiction sometime, since historical fiction is a back-burner interest of mine that seldom sees the light. Also, apparently he does paleontology with Jack Horner. I love it when my intellectual heroes start hanging out with each other.

In other news, I got a bread maker for Christmas, and it is currently making bread. Mmmm.

mood: Dangerous tags: movie, october sky, thumbs up

I went in for my third session of tattoo work yesterday.

( Three photos )

mood: Prettiful tags: tattoo

( The view from my apartment window... )

I am so glad that I don't have to drive anywhere today, though I did have to put chains on my car yesterday. Walking to the grocery store just now was an icy adventure.

mood: Happy-Dance

How is it the holiday season again? This means that I'm turning twenty-two very shortly, which is not okay. In fact, the prospect is making me grouchy. Must fight it! Must not grow up, no matter the cost!

Roommate Emma convinced us to watch Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Surprisingly, I rather enjoyed it! I kept having flashbacks to that Nintendo pod-racer game that I played obsessively in middle school, and discovered that Emma also played it, and that droid-building game for the computer, and yes. We are amazing dorks sometimes. Anyway, film. The writing was just... well, most of the bad acting could be explained by the actors going, "oh my god, I actually have to work with this? Well, okay, I'll try..." and it really felt like many characters and plot elements were shoehorned in because they had to be for the sake of the Star Wars universe that we already know, and not for any good reason at the time. Also, what the hell, why do we need a biological reason for how the Force works? Ewww, you got your sci-fi in my space fantasy.

Oh, also, incredibly racist. And sexist. It made me wince on many an occasion.

I was really amused by the skinny battle-droids. I was never sure if they were intended to sound hilariously sarcastic and snarky, but that's how I chose to interpret them.

On the whole, it was fun! Not the best-executed film I've ever seen, but a film doesn't have to be a shining bacon-wrapped artistic masterpiece to be entertaining. I just wish they'd toned down the hideous racial undertones, though.

mood: Flippant tags: movie, star wars

I drove home last night, and spent a good deal of the night working on a paper (still another page and some to go, and it's due by e-mail tonight). The kitties were happy to see me. Looking forward to family time and lazy time and huge amounts of food.

Toisian is rolling along, and it even has an official LJ community. Aww.

Last weekend I watched The Incredible Hulk and Wall-E. Also re-watched Iron Man. Approval all around. These new Marvel comics movies are damned good. I think I felt more sympathetic towards the robots in Wall-E than I feel for most animate film characters.

mood: Catty tags: iron man, movie, the incredible hulk, toisian, wall-e

My roommates and I are heading up to Portland in about eight hours for the anti-Prop-8 rally at PSU. I've volunteered to do some setting up and crowd control, and I'm so excited! Ahahah. And my mother sent me some money to get a new coat, since my trenchcoat is falling to pieces, so now I have a shiny new aviator jacket that is very warm and needs to be broken in. It was very determinedly on sale. I am pleased with myself.

I've had Ryoushi in my head quite a bit, mostly because I'm working out the details of his life after the war, including promotions, an arranged marriage, famine, government conspiracy, a rebel army, his wife's death, and other stuff.

Other than that, I have no fandom news whatsoever, mostly because of Greek. Nai.

mood: Shiny tags: toisian

Finished The Lathe of Heaven last weekend. That woman is fucking brilliant, and I love her, and that's the gist of things right now.

Excalibur is a rather upsetting film. Among other issues, having sex in full armor? Owww. That Merlin miniseries is much better in comparison, though I was really bothered by their version of Morgan, and a lot of things felt like very stereotypical fantasy-movie-for-TV tropes that they could easily have avoided with a little more care.

(Yes, my roommates are on an Arthurian legend kick. They're writing something gigantic with it, apparently, which I can't wait to see.)

Ancient Greek is taking up far too much time, but we're translating some Herodotus, and it's great fun, especially if you're an intellectual masochist, as I apparently am. Five and a half weeks until the end of the semester, and then a month of freedom and boyfriend before I submit to the ultimate mental lashing that will be my thesis, and if I survive this purging by the holy flames of my academic advisor's wrath, I will have a B.A. in Classics, and it will be awesome. *poses*

mood: Dramatic tags: book, excalibur, merlin miniseries, movie, the lathe of heaven, ursula leguin

I just picked up LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven.

I have no words. None. This book is AMAZING.

mood: Bitch Slapped tags: book, the lathe of heaven, thumbs up, ursula leguin