Kallia's ravings

Heh, and my anime binge goes on in celebration of my shiny new JLPT. Good news is, without subtitles I can understand 2/3 of what is said, even with the pompous dialogues and austere language of an anime like Gankutsuou. Bad news is, I the remaining 1/3 goes completely over my head. So back to studying I go.

However, that is not what you are here for if you followed the title. And so, with no further ado, I give you Gankutsuou (巌窟王): The Count of Monte Christo.



Once upon a time, there was a very popular novel written by a certain author by the name of Alexander Doumas. This novel expounded upon the course of human emotions, and especially the strength of the need for revenge versus the ability to forgive. The novel in question is a particularly well recognizable one. ( Until a certain anime production company got their hands on it... )

Enjoy!

The anime scene has been experiencing a serious dry period since last year. But Kaiba is living and breathing proof that there will always be gems hidden in the mud. It has been a very long time since the last time I enjoyed such an intelligent and deeply insightful plot, backed by hauntingly beautiful music. The actual animation desigh might seem a bit childish in the pictures, but trust me when I say that the series is anything but. On the contrary, it deals with some seriously adult themes at some points and even though it refrained from being graphic enough to squick anyone, it still sent me for a wild ride in a couple of episodes. In fact, the more cartoonish design is probably necessary to help balance the whole series and add to its phantastic premises. But the plot is and always will be the true reason for watching this series. Big words and gushy exclamations will never be good enough to explain it, so merely take my advice and watch it!



What are memories? What is the sum of a person's thoughts? And what makes a human soul? ( In a world where memories can be stored as data... )

Woohoo! The results from the JLPTs got back today and I passed, with the highest grades in my class no less. My first japanese diploma. ^_^ *pets diploma* You know, I have much higher diplomas in other languages, but this one's my baby. Only 2 and a half months of actual lessons, heh, am I great or am I great? Plus, it's so irrelevant to my actual field of work that it totally calls to my inner rebel. Yeah, that might sound a bit weird, but to make a long sort short it all starts back in my teenage years when instead of crashing parties I somehow decided that rebelling against society involved studying Astrophysics and Quantum Mechanics. You could call my parents lucky, except that you have no idea how much those Astrophysics books cost. :P

Anyhow, my first step to watching raw anime and getting my claws into Japanese fiction books (there are so many of them that I salivate at the mere thought) is over. *insert evil laughter* So this is where I greet you all my friends and leave to treat myself to some sushi. And fiancé goodness. I promised him we'd celebrate at a Japanese place for this. ^_^

I watched an incredible anime last night by the title KARAS. It's comprised of 6 OVAs and I recommend it to everyone who a)is a sucker for awesome fighting scenes with 3d animation, speed effects and just plain perfect choreography, but also old-type 2d animation with a good foot in realism b)is a romantic that easily falls in love with the idea of a spiritual world that secretly co-exists with ours c)really-really likes well written self-sacrificing heroes d)is an optimist that thinks our world is actually a nice place despite the corruption we see everyday and most importantly e)is tired of all the usual stuff and is looking for something different, something challenging and refreshing.



Take my word for it, it's good, so shoo! Run off to go watch.

Heheh, it's spreading!

It's ready! Lol, am I quick or what? This is dedicated to the_con_cept, whose fics I have always loved, enjoyed and admired.

Pencil sketch. PG-13 or R for a bit of bare chest.

(  When he returned, he stopped short as though he walked into a solid wall )

PS: I'm so crappy at this that it's not even funny, but I loved making it. So what are you waiting for? Go read concept's fics like good little minions! :P

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

Long time, no see, I know, but the word busy doesn't even come close to cutting it, so trust me, I had good reason. Quick update: my PhD paperwork finally got pushed through, now I have a million new worries over my research protocol, I may be taking the exam for JPLT 4 this winter (my first japanese diploma, yay) and I have recently switched to playing french MMORPGs pour me souvenir mon francais. Plus, I get to justify the long hours of playing as possibly preparing for taking a residency position in France or Belgium, lol.

Let's cut to the chase however. It's been some time now that I had downloaded the Bokurano (ぼくらの) anime series, but I only sat down to watch it today.

Two words: ingenious and shocking.



You thought NGEvangelion was messed up? You thought the Black Lagoon was taking things to the edge? Pfft. Plus, I had to take a break and refuel on tissues, which really says something. I keep crying like a baby.

( An unexpectedly welcome surprise in a rare anime )

I made my first successful attempt to draw with pastels today. *dances around a bit* It's been months since I've drawn anything other than large dark blotches on paper, and suddenly whack! that weird mood hit me again. So I skipped lunch, brought out the pastel colours that I had bought but never used correctly till now and zoned out for a couple of hours. When I came back, I was almost done (see the things that are supposed to look like clouds? My weird mood had abandoned me by then, so I suppose I was lucky I was able to salvage it this much).

( Tree in pastels )

So now I'm feeling all loose and relaxed, like coming down from a high, and very pleased with myself. I'm usually a pencil/graphite type of girl and portraits have been my thing so far, but I always envied people who knew how to paint in colour. Pastels do not allow for enough detail to be used in anything other than landscapes (so no colour portraits yet), but I don't trust myself enough with actual paints in the house yet. Still, it's a step in the right direction, right?

Another thing I envy though are people who can simply draw and paint all the time. Am I the only one who has to wait for these weird mood swings that make me feel like a zombie before I can draw anything recognisable?

Go read this story if you haven't yet. And then go read every other single other story in that site as well, original and fanfiction alike. *sigh* It's the first time in months that my inner NaruSasu shipper feels so satiated (and yet the hungry beast is already rearing its ugly head demanding for more...). I don't rec stuff often, so you know it's gotta be good.

"These Things" by Fool

Guys, you have got to check this fanvid out! Featuring Sakura's fangirl moments, the yaoi paddle and a rare catch of pervert!Naruto leering that I really should have turned into a desktop background noticed earlier.

The Bad Touch fanvid

Welcome to my new invention: Kallia's Anime Recommendations. And for today's special, an excellent yaoi anime series that combines action, drama and romance in an exquisite mixture. Ladies and gents, I give you...

Mirage of Blaze

炎の蜃気楼[ミラージュ]
Honoo no Mirage



Warning! This anime review deals with mature malexmale themes (in case someone missed the yaoi part). Please do not read if you find that distasteful or if you are below 18.

( More inside the cut! Slightly spoilery... )

All in all, if there was one yaoi series that has managed to push several of my buttons recently, it's this one. But it's also the one yaoi series that I could easily strip of everything even remotely, well, yaoi, and still happily watch it for its own sake. And that's a rare accomplishment.

Weeell, since I realized that very few of the communities I'm interested in other than Harry Potter have bothered to settle down in IJ, I had to make a new alternate account in LJ to keep tabs on my many *ahem* interests. *sigh* This is becoming more troublesome than I thought. What started as a simple clean up of my LJ account has now acquired a life of its own... I barely post in one journal, let alone three!

Anyway, I am now officially known as naya_gal in LJ (don't bother trying to understand why I pick these names, it's mostly the first thing that pops into my mind at the moment ^_^), not that it means much. Anyway, I have a new idea to help keep this baby busy. I came across another perfect *cough*yaoi*cough* anime that I had never even heard of before, so I thought of maybe posting previews/recommendations for my favorite anime like this one. Must remind myself to use those lj-cut tags though. I see picture-heavy posts ahead...

It's snowing! And heavy snow around here is something that happens once every 5-8 years. But everything has turned white, our water pipes have all frozen and we have to regularly boil water and pour it all over their exposed parts, Universities (and my lab) are closed and I love it!!!!

Here's a little photo from my window. It's not exactly Canada, but it's great!

*sigh* I'm high on quality chocolate and all teary over my great boyfriend.

His gifts:
- A great jacket that's exactly like the kind I love, even though he hates shopping and couldn't tell the difference between a sweater and a dress once (lol, long story)
- He came all the way to the lab and let me get some blood from him, because we needed some male human serum for tomorrow's immunohistochemistry and my other friend/only-male-colleague had disappeared faster than you can blink when we asked him to offer instead. Let me point out now that my boyfriend's kinda scared of blood, even though he's been getting loads better at it.
- Dinner at our favourite Chinese restaurant, complete with fortune-telling cookies! *squee*
- More than 2 pounds of my favourite Belgian praline chocolate. This alone can make a girl fall for a guy, in my humble opinion.

My gifts (nowhere near as great, I'm feeling guilty T_T)
- I went through all of the bibliography he's gathered so far with him to help him design his own PhD research. He has been a little stressed about it recently, so I've been trying to support him with that. I have also offered to create pictures and graphs for him whenever he needs them, but he won't take me up on my offer because he doesn't want to add on my workload.
- A leather-bound organizer like the one I use to schedule my own PhD research. I really hope he liked it, but I'm not so sure...
- I offered to re-schedule some of our lab work for this Saturday, because he's been curious about our lab techniques, but he wouldn't let me anyway, so it doesn't count...

I suck, don't I? But I had no idea what else to get him! I don't think one gives flowers to guys, he doesn't like sweets, there's nothing else he really needs right now... Well, perhaps a new computer, but that might be a little bit out of my budget. I tried my very best to let him have a good time too, though, so maybe it's OK. I just wish I had more to offer him sometimes. I feel like a parasite. I just hope I can make him happy in every way that counts, because he really deserves it.

You know there's something really wrong with you when half your Internet Explorer tabs are smutty fanfics about sex between enticing male fictional characters, and the other half boring scientific articles about sex determination in insects.

Or you can simply shrug and claim that everyone likes some spice in their lives and, hey, anything that can make your work less boring goes.

*huge shit-eating grin*

I sometimes wonder how I manage to corner myself into these kinds of situations. I'm like one of those people who are always "What, more work you say? Sure, it will be great to do that too, oh, and get my name into that other project as well, and please, there's no way I will be left out of this one...", until I face the harsh reality of actually doing all of these things.

So, I went to see one of the professors involved in my research today. Let me say beforehand that I had printed and read enough articles to make my printer run out of black ink. Twice. In the space of 2 days.

And there I am, preening like a peacock and presenting my initial draft/report/research protocol to him.

Professor: Hmmm.... yes, hmm... Interesting...
Me: So you see, if we can indeed prove this, it will fill a very interesting blank in the field so far, and no one has done this kind of work before. *smiling proudly at having uncovered a gap in my chosen field of research*
Professor: Yes, it all sounds very interesting, but you shouldn't let yourself narrow your research so much. There are all kinds of things we can look into at the same time!
Me: *smile begins to dim* Eh, certainly, we can always gather more data from the beginning and see if we get interesting results in the post-analysis...
Professor: Exactly! For example, what other kinds of markers can we use? What does the current bibliography mention?
Me: *thinking of the 64 articles that are still unprinted from when the 2nd ink ran out* Well, to be honest, I haven't had the chance to widen my search all that much yet. There is a huge amount of references concerning the matter...
Professor: Excellent! You'll look into it and come present me with more options by, let's say, next week, shall we?
Me: *feeling faint*... Eeeh, yes, of course...

I swear this must be pay-back for torturing our students last week. But I gave them all good grades in the end, didn't I? Even the girl that apparently didn't know what a penis exists for. And the guy that had never heard of ovulation before. So there! Can I pleeeeeaaaase be excused from some of my workload then?

I know this may sound cruel and I know that I shouldn't be one to talk, since I have been on the receiving side for too many years to count, but examining students can be really fun! Especially when the subject calls for it! *evil laughter*

Anyway, so here's the story. Sometimes, when the professor is busy, PhD candidates (that's me) get to examine and grade the 2nd year students (or pre-meds as they are known in some countries) that go through our lab. This time I and another friend of mine (not sharing his real name, but let's call him George for now, shall we?), who is also doing his PhD research at the same lab, had the honours. The poor students had to present their minor projects on sex steroids and sex differentiation.

*grand evil laughter*

( Watch out for R-rated medical terminology )

Lol, life never really does get boring around here...

A few months ago, I was really hooked with a free MMORPG. It's called Rappelz and I freely suggest it for those of you who are into this kind of thing (or have kids that are into this kind of thing ^_^). It's completely free and has great graphics, nice gameplay, you know, everything that makes a game like this tick.

Anyway, to make a long story short, after a little while I made a horrible mistake. I checked up on the fanfiction stories for the game.

In a nutshell, they sucked.

Now, I'm sure you can recognize the feeling. When you read something that's so bad, that you think even you could do it better (this does not apply to those of you who belong on my friendlist because you are among my favorite authors, of course). So I sat down and wrote a couple of pages before I got bored and left it alone.

I came across it again the other day when I was cleaning up my computer. I had sort of forgotten what I had written, so I sat down and read it again. And me, being the sucker for fantasy stories that I am, halfway enjoyed it.

I wrote some more because I was bored, but I have no way of telling exactly how crap it is. If you're bored and feel like doing something to help pass the time, please take a look and feel free to be really strict. I'm the kind of person that enjoys criticism that helps me get better. Does it make any sense to those of you that have never played the game? Is it boring? Does it go overboard? Has too much fanfiction reading ruined my grasp on english for good? Do the characters sound stupid enough to make you wanna smack them? Does the story sound stupid enough to make you wanna smack the author? Give me your worst! :P

( Read if bored )

With the occasion of the closing of the Snarry Art Games, I realized the other day that I've drawn very little in the past couple of years, and especially recently. I suppose I already knew it, but it still came as a revelation when I accepted the fact that I've been working so hard lately, that I have very little energy left to devote to almost anything else, like my artistic creations or even martial arts training. I haven't been at the dojo for months. And all I have to show for the past 18 months in regards to my drawing/painting are these two pencil portraits from the Lord of the Rings:

( Read more... )

So, I've been thinking. I have had this idea of working on something with Snape and Harry for a long time now, but I've never come across the right pic to use as a model. I need something with lots of shadows and light. I need faces with strong emotions. I need smoldering eyes. And I need a picture that will sing to me and wake up that hibernating muse within me.

Any ideas?