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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
painless_j's LiveJournal:
- Only 30 more chapters of Bleach left to catch up with. Taking into consideration the length of those chapters, it's for one evening :(
- Say, Bleach-savvy people, does Turn Back the Pendulum arc only have chapters, from -108 to -97 (and -15), so far? I want more of it. It's my favourite. 'Cos I never thought Urahara would be such a ♥ ♥ ♥ :)
- Not very happy with fanfiction so far. I mean, discarding those fics that I throw away almost at once because of spelling errors, information dumps, FFnet-like premises and such, I still haven't found one that would take my breath away among the decently written ones. One that would make me "OMG WOW GLEE!" I mean, I follow recs and links and all, but even when nothing whatsoever irks me on the style/language level, the stories fall flat. Either they don't hold my attention, or I don't think the characters are in character. Don't take me wrong; I don't even think they are out of character. But I've read no less than two dozens decently written Bleach fics by now where I thought while and after reading, "Hmm, are you sure it's them?" or "How come it's Ishida and not your, I dunno, college mate?"
I thought I was just tired until I stumbled upon a HP story, of all things, that completely stunned me.
It's as frustrating as wondering through KKM fandom. I wish though that it were more like HikaGo or FMA. Must search harder :D
| Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 | |||
| 2:06 am | Music: Asian, part 1 A friend of mine had her hard drive die on her and she lost all her music. So I'm uploading some for her, in batches. Today's is part 1 of my Asian collection, the majority of which is Japanese (singer A through G -- just for myself so that I remember where I stopped). Grab what you can today 'cos I'll delete the folder (and this post) tomorrow to free room for the next part. Sorry for posting it unsorted and in bulk but I'm tired and have no energy to make a proper music post. There's a lot of music: rock, pop, enka, anime music, and whatnot. As usual, files are uploaded to Box.net which gives you this neat little option to listen to them before downloading. Do use it :)       ======      | ||
| Thursday, January 14th, 2010 | |||
| 8:31 am | Better late than never I'm sure you've seen it 20 times on your flists already but better there be 21 times than somebody missing it. ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} bethbethbeth links to various non-profit organisations accepting help for Haiti. Fandom rallies forces via lots of auctions in help_haiti.Go see where you can help! In my life: the new job is trying to do me in, I think. I wake at 7.30 in the morning, have breakfast, wash up, go to work, then work-work-work, then back at about 8.30-9.00 in the evening, food, wash-up, a brief chat with a friend, and sleep. No life at all and completely exhausted. | ||
| Thursday, May 7th, 2009 | |||
| 7:52 pm | This is my last post here Hi, faithful reader (or two), I'm posting to inform whoever's out here that I'm closing shop on JF. I'll keep this journal up to name-squat and have access to FW if I ever want to comment there (haven't happened yet but who knows...). But I'm not going to cross-post here anymore. You can find me under the same name on LJ, IJ, or DW. Or make an RSS feed of my LJ/DW (have no idea how but I'm sure there are ways) if you adamant on reading your friends on JF. Goodbye and thank you! | ||
| Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 | |||
| 5:13 am | Have a bit of funny Ever been puzzled that people don't comment on a Very Important Post you made? This is why. I laughed until I cried. Brilliant thing :) Found via a friend's post on my flist. On an unrelated note, I'm almost not here. Am very busy and when not, so tired I'm unable to make myself do anything productive. Have been lazily playing online adoptables instead: dragons, Unicreatues, Pokemon. Am still watching Bleach and rereading Let Dai. That is, nothing new. Let me stay a vegetable for a while longer :) Am going away tomorrow to visit my granddad with my parents. Back in four days. Behave! :) | ||
| Friday, April 10th, 2009 | |||
| 3:25 am | Kyou Kara Maou final So, I mini-marathoned the last 8 episodes of Kyou Kara Maou and OMG, now I'm so terribly sad it's ended! Waah! To avoid spoilers, ( a few impressions behind the cut ) This is for sure one of the loveliest and kindest series I've seen. Now I desperately want some good fic with the following: - Berias/Saralegui, best of all serious D/s 'cos come on, the man placed himself into the hands of a small child and has been faithful like a dog ever since :) - a long and serious Jenies/Shinou: come on, it needs to be written! It's love so desperate that it must be ficcified! - And a happy and dramatic Wolfram/Yuuri/Saralegui threesome. With a happy end :) And of course Gwendal/Gunter or any-of-them/Yuuri is always welcome. Blast, amanuensis, why don't you finish watching it and get awfully inspired?? :)) | ||
| Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | |||
| 5:40 am | HP recs: three Harry/Draco fics Bet you didn't expect this :) Gush, by Calanthe [] Harry/Draco, NC-17, ~6K words. PWP. Kink. Warning(s): A bit of swearing, watersports, humiliation. NWS image at the end of the fic. This is a kink!fic, plain and simple. If watersports or humiliation squick you, don't read. If you think watersports is about diving or polo, google it first. I can't say it's my kink but it's not a squick for me either; it's one of the kinks I find interesting to see explored in fiction. And nobody writes kink OR things to do with bodily functions and sensations better than Calanthe. I don't always agree with her view of characters but written sex? She's a goddess. This fic is hot and surprisingly enough, funny, at least the detention part. I enjoyed it. Could do without the visual aid though. Between Conspirators, by Mahaliem # Harry/Draco, R, ~10K words. Summary: Someone tries to recruit Draco to help kill Harry. Fortunately (?), Draco has a plan to stop the mysterious would-be assassin. Written for hp10k_showcase to raise awareness of Diabetes. As usual, a fic by Mahaliem makes me guffaw. I don't even want to analyse how she does it. It's magic, honest. Just, her wave of humour is perfectly synced with mine or something. Nobody else's fics make me laugh so much or so consistently. This one is no exception: Lucius' gags, Dean's repeat performances, "de-aged!Draco" lol Just read it! Read it if you need a bit of cheer especially. One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, by Geoviki [] Harry/Draco, PG-13, ~9K words. Summary: Secrets and imp magic make a bad combination, and Draco will never, ever forgive Blaise for any of this. Written for hp10k_showcase to raise awareness of Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes. I can't say everything in the story was quite to my tastes: for one, I expected it to be more dramatic -- that might have something to do with the allowed fic length vs the one most comfortable for the author? Or maybe just with my expectations which are overwhelmingly based on her epics A Thousand Beautiful Things and Delicate Sound of Thunder? I don't know. The second thing, it ended faster (or maybe more abruptly) than I expected. That, again, probably has more to do with my expectations than with the actual story. BUT! The magic! The magic! Draco was [spoiler]! Just how bloody brilliant it is?! I loved how the way Harry thought of Draco influenced [spoiler]. How much power that gave Harry, brrr! This is what I love in Viki's fics best. She takes a seemingly simple plot and turns it into something intelligent and very humane, forcing her characters to make choices and take responsibility and whatnot. Anyway, I'll be thinking of this or that thing from this story for a while, and this is the best a story could do, as for me! Ack, wait! All those words of mine might make you think this fic is some sort of gloomy monster. It's not. It's actually quite light and pleasant. | ||
| 3:32 am | Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is out!
My notes: this is so bloody awesome! I love the manga, I loved the first version of the anime. I thought animation there was exemplary. BUT! I think animation here, in FMA2, is even better. Awesome backgrounds, the character drawing is closer to the manga than in FMA1, even if it's still a bit glamorised if to compare to Hiromu Arakawa's seemingly untidy (but bloody awesome!) drawing. To put it in a few words, I LOVED the visual side of ep. 1 to bits and pieces. I do hope the rest of the series doesn't disappoint, meaning that the quality of the drawing/animation doesn't drop in the middle. But it's the most awaited anime of the year, so I think they have the money and hope it keeps up to the quality level it set in ep. 1. The plot, well, it's a sort of prologue, sort of teaser, sort of statement of intent. The authors packed lots and lots of information into it, which you will decipher if you've read the manga. I don't know how one unfamiliar with the story could perceive it, whether it would be too plotty/full of important details or quite all right for them. Not that version #1 wasn't plotty or packed with dramatic events, but episode 1 of FMA2 seems to be underlining the plottiness even more. It also hints to lots and lots of important things. Anyway, for me, it looked like a fantastic re-introduction to the characters I love. I'm SOOOOOOO looking forward to ep. 2. Funimation is streaming ep. 1 for several countries around the world on April 9. I couldn't wait three days of course. Because it's FMA! And just how cool it is that they are doing version #2 to make it closer to the manga source?! More FMA, oh yesss! | ||
| 12:54 am | Fresh veggie salad AKA vitamin attack Takes 10-15 minutes to make a large bowl, depending on how fast you peel and cut your veggies. What: 1 medium carrot, 1 smallish beet, 2 smallish cucumbers, 1 large apple (Fuji my love :D), half a smallish stalk of celery, 1 lemon. A splash of olive oil. How: Peel the beet like a potato, scrub the carrot. Cut off ends of celery ribs and throw away the yellowish inner parts. Leave cucumbers and apple be; don't peel them. I grated everything (RAW!) except lemon on this grater (the front side, with larger graters). After that, squeezed the lemon all over it and added some nice olive oil. Result: juicy, crunchy, mmmm! Ideal for those who are watching or aiming to lose weight. ( Looks like this ) Warning/additional note: this thingie, because of high fibre contents and because of raw beet, is/can be a laxative. So be careful. You can vary the proportions depending on what you like best. I just took what was lurking in my fridge. The other half of the celery stalk, 3 carrots, and half a head of cabbage are stewing now (with a bit of tomato paste and a couple of sausages, cut) for dinner. Vegetables are ♥ | ||
| Saturday, April 4th, 2009 | |||
| 9:12 pm | |||
| Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | |||
| 11:28 pm | Bleach, anime ep. 61 OMGWTF and a few questions OMG his face! If you saw this episode, tell me if I'm crazy or not. ( SPOILER behind the cut ) And another question while I'm at it. So do souls grow up or not? ( Details behind the cut again ) | ||
| 3:52 am | Let Dai, love, and continuity errors. Part 3 Part 1. Part 2. Now I understand. Dai and footwear? Not a continuity error. It's Dai's special abilities or something. He IS very special, right? So it's no wonder he regularly manages to change flip-flops to trainers without moving a muscle. ( Here he does it again ) And while I'm amusing muself, it bears repeating. I LOVE THIS MANGA SO FREAKING MUCH!!! I squid it, even :) | ||
| Monday, March 30th, 2009 | |||
| 2:46 am | Pork in pomegranate sauce Cooked: THIS. Found via friendsfriends list. Of course I made a few modifications since I can't cook by recipe to save my life. Firstly, I didn't have any rosemary (and wouldn't want it there anyway), so I skipped it. Besides, the final taste of the dish is so rich, aggressive, and fruity that IMO no herbs are needed. Secondly, my gall bladder often gives me trouble so I avoid frying things when possible. Thirdly, I don't like big chunks of meat so I cut the pork into bite-sized cubes. Instead, I marinated pork in the mix of pomegranate juice and orange juice/zest for an hour in a Tupperware box with no-spill lid. Then dumped it all into the deep pan where garlic was just becoming golden, and stewed for about 2 hours. I had to balance the taste adding a bit of juice then sugar then juice again. As a result, I had a lot of liquid in the stew so I added a bit of flour to thicken the sauce. The end result doesn't look as nice as the original but tastes divine. As I said, very fruity, rich, and strong. So I ate it with plain white rice. Very yummy. If I cook it again, I might add ginger. | ||
| Sunday, March 29th, 2009 | |||
| 3:58 am | Let Dai, love, and continuity errors. Part 2 Part 1 is here. I'm compensating for the posting break, SPAMMING you :) Wouldn't expect much from me next week 'cos I haven't been reading anything and I have about 150 more episodes of Bleach to watch :D So, now, a couple of very adventurous watches. I realise that this is not so much an error as random detail. Neither Dai's nor Jaehee's watch play any part in the sense-building of the manga. They aren't important in any way, unlike Dai's wound I talked about it part 1. They are just random elements of décor. But still... Once you notice it while reading, the proper reading goes out of the window 'cos you begin following the jumps of the watch from arm to arm and its disappearances and appearances. And keep laughing. ( Adventure #3. Travelling watches. MIND THE SPOILERS for one of the most moving scenes in the entire manga, as for me, in vol. 4 ) Sorry for the silly pseudo-analysis :) I couldn't resist :) The story of the watches doesn't end here; I just got tired. It goes on for the entire volume and probably longer. It awfully amused me the day I was carrying vol. 4 on me :) | ||
| 1:38 am | Kyou Kara Maou has been done For those of you who watch KKM but don't watch updates, KKM season three has finally been subbed to the end, by atelier_thryst. OMG I can now watch the last five episodes I put on hold to mini-marathon, oh yesss! Grab it here, via BU torrent updates, here via AT torrents, or here at Aarin (registration required) via direct download (leaf to the last page). Wondering what I'm squealing about? THIS. | ||
| 12:07 am | Let Dai, love, and continuity errors I haven't posted in more than a week. A rare thing for me. And I didn't even notice; I wouldn't have if furiosity didn't poke me to ask if I was alive. Hah! Who's to blame if not her! It's her who sold me on Bleach, the manga (first) and now the anime that ate my brain. It's huge! I haven't been reading much else, except reading Let Dai when on the train. Which is, coincidentally, the topic of this post :)You all know that I'm totally in love with Let Dai. I got my paper copy a few weeks back and have been rereading it -- more like, admiring, drooling over, and so on -- on the train and during lunch. I'm really, really in love with this manga. But even being so head over heels, I can't help having paroxysms of laughter every once in a while that have nothing to do with the author's humorous talent (which she does have, IMO, but that's not what I'm about). Because even the best artists make continuity errors (and I do think Woon Soo-yeon is an awesome artist and storyteller!). This is what editors must be for. Not that they are always worth the money paid to them... And it's not that I'm so petty. One just can't help noticing those things if they read the thing they love for the third time and if they love it so much that they spend hours admiring details :D Anyway, here they are. Remember that this manga reads left to right. ( Adventure #1. How to get a new footwear in a dozen steps, without any special effort on your part. ) ( Adventure #2. A wandering wound. MIND THE SPOILERS ) I don't know why I find it so amusing. Next time, the adventures of the travelling watch. Stay tuned :) | ||
| Thursday, March 19th, 2009 | |||
| 6:09 am | Various Bleach-related things | ||
| 2:31 am | A few animanga fic recs: Bleach and KKM The Monkey and the Moon, by imadra_blue [] Byakuya/Renji, PG, ~1800 words. Summary: "Let me tell you about the difference between you and me. It's like the story of the monkey trying to capture the moon." – Byakuya Kuchiki to Renji Abarai, Bleach Chapter 142. Notes: Takes place after Aizen's theoretical defeat and refers to the speculated fates of a few characters. Will no doubt be rendered AU when Tite Kubo finishes the Aizen storyline. Lovely and lyrical. The story is told via thoughts and small but significant gestures rather than grand action or talks. I loved how awe-struck and humbled Reiji is before Byakuya, how wanting and courageous at the same time, and how they don't really speak to express it all. Works well here, as for me. Wonderful short story. Best Worst Day, by Mosh (or here) [] Renji/Ichigo, R, 5,300 words. Summary: Renji misunderstands the meaning of Valentine's Day, which leads to revelation. I enjoyed this story, especially the moment when Renji explained what he was doing and the date, lol :) And it was hot! But mostly I liked that what was happening was intriguing enough to keep my attention. I liked the way Mosh ended it, too. Kyou Kara Maou, 20 Themes, by Mousapelli [] Various, PG-13, collection of drabbles, about 6k words total. As usual with a fic that consists of drabbles, some of them seem better than others. I particularly liked #6, 9, 14, 15, and 16. The fic makes a pleasant, mosaic-like impression, not unlike KKM itself. I enjoyed it. | ||
| Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | |||
| 7:47 pm | HP rec: The Path of Least Resistance, by Snegurochka (Teddy/Albus) The Path of Least Resistance, by Snegurochka # Teddy/Albus Severus, past unrequited Teddy/James, R, ~11K words. Warnings: Substance abuse. Grieving after a major character death. Albus is 18. Summary: Teddy had been clean for barely thirteen weeks the night Albus landed on his doorstep, reminding him of everything he'd tried to leave behind. It's hard to mourn a loss when you can barely acknowledge it's happened. It's even harder when you think you're responsible for it. Written for hp10k_showcase. Oh my, this is such a painful story! I'm terribly scared of addiction, be it in real life or in fiction, so I'm feeling as if a dog chewed on me or something :( But I think it says a lot for Snegurochka's skill as a writer that I didn't even once thought of quitting. She managed to lead me through lots of things that should have made me bolt, so vivid, real, and painful they were. But instead, no, I can't say I liked it or anything like that. I sort of lived it? So here I am, telling you about it because I think it was a valuable experience, one that makes something shift inside you, reading this fic. | ||
| Friday, March 13th, 2009 | |||
| 9:16 am | FMA rec: two fics by E. E. Beck (Roy/Ed, NC-17) Play to Win, by E. E. Beck # Roy/Ed, others off screen, NC-17, 12,000 words. Summary: Ed loses his virginity, and then his inhibitions. Roy loses his mind. Found this fic on Prognosticate, by E. E. Beck ## Roy/Ed, others off screen, NC-17, oneshot. Spoilers: Last third of the series and the movie, vaguely. Summary: “Divination alchemy,” Ed said scornfully. “Also known as complete and total bullshit.” And this one, as for me, is bloody awesome. The ending in particular. So poignant and piercing and OMG perfect. I loved-loved-loved it. The story is about love and the allure and dangers of looking into future. There's a sort of paradox that always comes up when we speak of fiddling with time: does Roy fall in love because he looks or would he anyway if he didn't? But the fact is, Roy falls hard. Poor bastard :) Ed is also perfect here. Mouthy, loud, brilliant, and very Ed on the whole. Loved it! | ||
| Thursday, March 12th, 2009 | |||
| 9:30 pm | Three animanga fandom recs: HikaGo, Bleach, Antique Bakery HikaGo: Preliminaries, by stirring_still [] Touya/Shindou and Waya/Isumi, NC-17, novella. A/N: Spoilers for the entire series. I can't say this fic is completely to my tastes. For one, I don't envision either Hikaru or Akira this way. There are small things in this fic that contradict my view of them as characters, my ideas of how they would/should be behaving in various situations (say, at the end, I think Touya would either be more loud and obvious about that or much more private), and also some details of the life of a Go pro or life in Japan. But while I think that some scenes could be more precise characterisation-wise, some others are spot-on, as for me. For example, when Shindou accidentally tells Waya about Touya. That's so Shindo! Another thing not to my tastes was the beginning of the relationship that seemed too fast (or is it easy?) to me. For yet another, I didn't like what I consider a fan service moment when Akari reacts to their relationship. But that all sort of fades because I believe it's one of the hottest fics I've read in HikaGo. Awfully hot! Guh how hot :) And I loved it. There are a few very amusing scenes there, too. "There are no manga about Go, and so manga is worthless!" Morishita said, "Concentrate!" So on the whole, I enjoyed the story. Not bad for somebody's first try in a new fandom :) Bleach: Infamy- 20 Myths and Legends about Zaraki Kenpachi, by Pero (peroxide_fic) [] Kenpachi, Eleventh Division; Gen, PG-13, ~3,000 words. Summary: The mysterious Zaraki Kenpachi. Not "OMG wow" but it's lovely and entertaining, even if (or maybe exactly because) it's rather fanonish. I want to understand a character when I read fanfic, especially one as awe-inspiring and fucked-up as Kenpachi, not to read a number of words about how mysterious he is, even if underneath it we are still given some understanding of him. But this story is pleasant to read anyway and amusing. I enjoyed it. Antique Bakery: Learning to Fly, by afrai (or here) [] Ono/Chikage, PG-13, short. Summary: In retrospect, thought Ono, kissing Chikage had been a bad idea. It's a story of one ill-considered kiss (can you imagine anything else from Ono?) and how it turned out. I can't even tell why I liked it. There's just something in it that seems to me to fit the manga very well. Pleasant story, as for me. | ||
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