remaner

Life lesson #174

remaner — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:25:10 GMT

When someone calls you "an unbearable joykiller" and all you get from this definition is a sense of pride, it's definitely time to rethink about your sense of humanity.

remaner — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:33:29 GMT

The "What Icon Do You Associate With Me?" meme!
• Do not look at the comments.
• Take a look at my userpics.
• Post a comment with the icon of mine you associate with me. Leave commentary if desired.
• Repost with your default icon.

2011 Scrapbook

remaner — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:22:03 GMT

anime
• Kuroshitsuji → A-1 Pictures → 24/24 → ★★★☆☆
• Kuroshitsuji - That butler, show business (OVA) → A-1 Pictures → 1/1 → ★☆☆☆☆
• Kuroshitsuji II → A-1 Pictures → 12/12 → ★★★☆☆
• Kuroshitsuji - Welcome to the Phantomhive's (OVA) → A-1 Pictures → 1/1 → ★☆☆☆☆
• Kuroshitsuji - Ciel in Wonderland (OVA) → A-1 Pictures → 1/1 → ★★★☆☆
• Durarara!! → Aniplex → 24/24 → ★★★★☆
• Durarara!! 12.5 (OVA) → Aniplex → 1/1 → ★★★☆☆
• FLCL (rewatch) → Gainax → 6/6 → ★★★★★
• FMA Brotherhood → Bones → 25/64 → ★★★★★
• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni → Studio Deen → 9/26 → ★★★☆☆

manga
• Full Metal Alchemist → Square Enix → 58/108 → ★★★★☆
• Kuroshitsuji → Square Enix → 53/?? → ★★★☆☆
• Yakitate!! Japan → Shogakukan → 10/235 → ★★★☆☆

film
• Kara no Kyoukai 1: Overlooking the scenery (rewatch) → Ufotable → ★★★☆☆
• Kara no Kyoukai 2: Murder speculation (rewatch) → Ufotable → ★★★★★
• Kara no Kyoukai 3: Remaining sense of pain (rewatch) → Ufotable → ★★★☆☆
• Kara no Kyoukai 4: The hollow shrine (rewatch) → Ufotable → ★★★★☆
• Kara no Kyoukai 5: Paradox Spiral (rewatch) → Ufotable → ★★★★★

music
• Oblivious → Kalafina → ★★★☆☆
• Re~Oblivious → Kalafina → ★☆☆☆☆
• Sprinter~Aria → Kalafina → ★★★☆☆
• Gone daddy gone → Violent Femmes → ★★★☆☆
• Gone daddy gone → Gnarls Barkley → ★★★★☆
• Sigarety → Zemfira → ★★☆☆☆
• Hochesh? → Zemfira → ★★★☆☆
• Blues → Zemfira → ★★★★☆

credit for table codes - loveshine

This is for you yuidirnt

remaner — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:08:32 GMT

On the 26th of the month the 5th DVD of Kuroshitsuji II will be on sale in Japan, and with the limited edition there will be of course some random swag. The most awaited is a "Making of Kuroshitsuji" OVA, that according to the scans I found at BlackButler is going to be a typical video with a fake interview to the characters. In the scans there was also this...

CLAUDE PRACTICING TAP DANCE

I don't even like blinking texts that much but with Claude it's mandatory. To see the bigger pictures click on them twice.

Personally I loved this:

Sebastian breaking an ankle while shooting a dangerous scene. I lol'd ~~and this makes me a bad person~~.

tl;dr: why isn't the 26th already?
Ok, let's make 27/28th, give people time to put the thing on the interwebz...

So...

remaner — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 12:02:14 GMT

Obligatory Happy New Year wishes post goes here.

Jokes aside, try to have a good year, better than the past one and stuff.

remaner — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:49:45 GMT

Weekend meme, because boring afternoon is boring (this way I'll learn finishing my job early to have some free time I don't know how to use, sigh).
Comment asking me 5 questions on a fandom and one of your fandoms. I'll answer and ask you five questions in return.

remaner — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:32:30 GMT

I just had to share this:

No more time wasted memorizing the multiplication table.

dot dot dot

remaner — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:04:30 GMT

Disclaimer: this conversation really took place no more than two hours ago.

(Guy that hired me for some translations a couple of weeks ago and called me again today) - Hi there, thanks for coming here quickly.
(Me) - There's no problem. Now, what was that work you called me for and that I couldn't possibly do from my office?
- Please follow me. [takes me to a small kitchen] Today is my secretary's birthday, and we wanted to make her a surprise with a cake.
- I'm happy to know, but what's the matter with me?
- Well, could you please write on the cake "Happy birthday Irina" in Russian with this? [gives me a pastry bag]

I'm sad that nobody took a photo of my face in that moment, because my expression had to be priceless.
By the way, I wrote that, got a slice of cake in return and it was delicious.

remaner — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:10:59 GMT

Managed to watch Toy Story 3. I decided to give it a try because of all the less than orgasming recensions I found here and there online. Result, I've been unsurprisingly moved or touched or anything else by it. Which considered much of the stuff I read makes me an horrible person, but I already knew that. Doesn't help either that the other thing I actually found intriguing and worth watching until the end recently is Kara no Kyoukai.
I guess that the only way I'll ever find this forthcoming 4th Yu Gi Oh! series appealing will be if the main character will use his cards to slit his adversaries' throats.

remaner — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 20:54:08 GMT

Step 1
☆彡 Make a post (public, f-locked, filtered ... whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
☆彡 If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
☆彡 Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step 2
☆ 彡 Surf around your friends list (or friends' friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
☆彡 If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use -- or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free -- do it.
☆彡 You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf -- to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not -- it's your call.
☆彡 There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just... wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

Just two things:
1) Suggestions. Suggest me something to read/watch, really anything. The only thing is: no magical girls series, unless there's a very good reason for it.
2) Drawings or fics, especially any Simon/Nia fic that's not just a ode to saccharin and/or Kamina/Yoko fic that doesn't follow the "Take your pants off, we must talk" pattern, but stuff from any other fandom is of course gladly accepted.

ETA, because I didn't think of that earlier: if someone could made some icons out of the following screenshots for me (I tried myself but they turned out an eyesore) I'd be a happy remaner: one, two, three (I want a clear icon of the guy at the computer, but an icon of the other annoyed kid too would be a sweet omake), four, five.

remaner — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:28:32 GMT

I managed to finish that translation work on the very same Saturday night ~~killing whatever remained of my brain in the process~~. So, to celebrate this - thanks also to the fact that it snowed for the whole afternoon and there wasn't much else to do - I just passed the whole day watching random stuff. And finally found something that took me off my enjoyment lethargy (I don't know for how long, though).

Summer Wars. Probably the most appasionate anime fans among you have already watched it, but if you didn't read on, I'll try to sell it to you. At the beginning I was a bit reluctant, knowing it was made by the same two people that made The girl that leapt throught time, which, besides the awesome animation, I didn't like at all. I decided to give in and watch anyway, even if just for the animation, and not regret it at all.
The plot is: nerdy guy is casually called by his secret crush to act as her boyfriend during a family reunion for the 90th birthday of her grandmother. Add to this the fact that he accidentally cracks a code that causes a huge internet mess that hits the family too, and the fact that the family he happened to meet is not the typical anime rich but decayed family that lives on a more-than-a-century-old glory (you'll see how). So he and the whole family will try to fix the problem caused (saving the world in the process because yeah) through a game with Gaia on line-like avatars. And it turned out great.
The animation is just top-notch, the story is simple but great, and the CGI work as they should. Also the Obligatory Final Heartwarming And Stuff Message. I must admit that I'm the kind of person that doesn't care that much about this (to be moved by this kind of things there has to be something that satisfies my sadism too, I'm a total bitch I know), but I liked it. And that's saying something. Not the most subtle ever, but still. And yes, the whole "with OPTIMISM and TRUST anything can be solved, so always look for the bright side!!!1one!" irks me a bit, but it's just me.

tl;dr: Go and watch this. If you're not interested into the whole plot and/or care just about flashy and shiny images, or just don't care about this either, just watch it, it's one of the best ways to waste a couple of hours.

На хуя?

remaner — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:10:30 GMT

"Is it a problem for you to translate and type down these 50 curriculum from Russian all on your own?"
"No, I think they'll be ready for Wednesday"
"Well, that's the problem, you should do them for Monday"
"What?"
"Yes, I forgot that the deadline was this Tuesday. I hope that it's not a problem..."

Life lesson number one: if the place you're working for looks like a totally disorganized mess, it's because 90% of the time it is.

Note for non Russian speakers: the title means "Why?" in Russian, only in a really vulgar way.

Back, apparently

remaner — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:34:11 GMT

The bad period is apparently over, at least until the end of December. Now I can go back to my usual habit of pretending to do stuff.

remaner — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:03:39 GMT

A quick update on a couple of things.

First of all, welcome to ruder_childprey (who I met on the Gurren Lagann Friending meme) and sagaranna (who friended me yesterday). I'm remaner, 25, Italian, whino of colossal proportions. Here you can find me fangirling as if I was 10 years younger, massacrating the English language, ranting about how the world doesn't go as I planned. But I can also be a likeable person sometimes (or so I've heard).

As for me, these days real life has decided to hit on me really hard in pretty much any field you can think of (family, school, health...), so I'm not going to be online that much for another while, appearing once in a while zombie style. I'm afraid the situation will go on at least until the end of November, if things will settle the best way.

Also, the scratch on my back healed completely. +1 on some field at least...

I was bored...

remaner — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:42:12 GMT

Choose one of the series listed below and I'll tell you:

- What made me watch/read it
- Three random personal thoughts
- Sell me this series, I dare you!
- Ask me whatever you want
- Something else/random

After I replied, here's a question for you:

- Suggest me something to read/watch

You can choose to ask the questions about a single series or five different series, as you prefer. The only rule is: if someone already asked a question about a certain series don't ask it again.

Series: YGO (all the series), Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Eyeshield 21, Cowboy Bebop, Gun x Sword, Abenobashi, FLCL, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (up to Zan SZS), Death Note, Evangelion, Yakitate!! Japan (still have to finish it cause my torrent hates me), Nadia the secret of Blue Water, Urusei Yatsura, Chi's sweet home.

The return of Daredevil Kitty

remaner — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:49:11 GMT

For all those that missed me in the a couple of days I disappeared, here's my justification.
It all began on Monday morning, while I was in the bathroom dressing myself with my cat on the washing machine behind me. I was putting my bra on, when she saw its straps dangling on my back and decided that playing with them without retracting her nails might have been fun.
Now I have a scratch long about five centimeters on my back. Not deep or anything, and now it doesn't even hurt, but still...
If I got one on my chest too I could cosplay dead!Kamina, though. Kinda cool...

I'm still alive, though, despite my cat's attempts. If I were to miss again for a while, you know who's the culprit.

remaner — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:30:20 GMT

Re-read that post I wrote ten days ago, and realized it sounded like I was asking advice for something strictly Japanese learning related and not about motivation in general;
I forgot to do my assignment again for yet another week;
The new school schedule sucks: all the lessons have been concentrated in the first semester, and every Monday and Wednesday I'm attending lesson from 8 am to 7 pm non stop;
Tried to watch Princess Tutu, dropped it at the first episode. I don't get the whole hype;
It might be because of the aforementioned point, but these days I enjoy going to lesson or studying as much as going to the dentist;
And it might be because of the aforementioned point, but these days I don't have the will to do anything;
Icing on this cake of fail, I got a fucking obnoxious cold.

remaner — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 10:17:19 GMT

It's a kinda stupid request, but hey what would you expect from me.

A couple of weeks ago I did my Japanese exam once again, and did the same thing I did before: I got a really high score in the comprehension part and failed in writing and speaking part in a spectacular way. After realizing that I didn't cheat in the comprehension part, but that I actually have problems with the other one, as some sort of assignment the professor told me to write everyday a short text, 10 sentences at least, about anything I want.

And I did it. For two days. Then I pretty much forgot about it and dropped the thing. And yesterday, when I remembered about that, I found myself with the weirdest writer's block ever, due to what I'm afraid is lack of motivation (how can you possibly have a writer's block while doing a homework whose purpose is to test your linguistic skills? Only I can do stuff like that). Now I'm able to get about a 20% of what I read/listen to, and that seems to be the part I'm better at and where I'm improving faster (and, to be totally fair, the one I'm more interested into), while in the other I'm going really slow, to the point I don't even remember to focus on it, and of course if I don't practice I won't improve at all.
So, to make it short: could I ask you what you do in cases like this to remember about and/or to get ~~a bit more~~ motivated into doing what you have to do?

Yes, a stupid request, but then again what would you expect from me.

Essay about Kisara and translation

remaner — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:00:04 GMT

Pandora is a French Yu Gi Oh fan that runs a blog with some really interesting analisys about some elements of the series. Some days ago I read on an interesting post about the possible sources of inspiration for Kisara's character. So I decided to translate it into English, and asked for the permission. I got the green light and did it quite quickly, but when I re-read it before posting it I had some second thoughts, based on the fact that I'm not an English native speaker, and I was afraid I could mess up the article. But then again I wanted to give it a try.
So, here it is. Feel free to correct my mistakes, berate my translation abilities, menace me and my descendants for this.

******

KISARA

Inspired by Nordic and Germanic mythology, the most popular myth about the White Dragon was born in Celtic lands: it's the legend of Arthur, son of King Uther Pendragon. The legendary Merlin, at the services of King Vortigen, is said to have had the vision of a red Dragon and a white dragon fighting. The Red Dragon, nowadays symbol of Wales, represented the Insular Bretons, while the White Dragon symbolizes the Saxon invaders.

In the ancient fresco of YGO's Egypt, the origin of the White Dragon has a name. It's Kisara, soul sister of Priest Seto, that we discover for the first time as victim of bullying from the people of the Royal city, because of her different physical appearance. The girl, with her blue eyes, white skin and silver hair, is far from the image one has of an Egyptian woman. In the anime, Kisara and Seto have a flashback of their first meeting, in which the future owner of the Millennium Rod rescued the girl, apparently captured and enslaved by a gang of thieves because of her peculiar appeareance. When Seto gave her his horse to escape he also hoped she could finally reach her land. It is true that the hypothesis that she has foreign origins is not so surprising, knowing that Seto, being an Egyptian child, had never seen anyone with similar physical characteristic. But to be fair, we must know that historians agree that slavery, as perceived about capture and resale this concept entails, has never been practiced in ancient Egypt before the Greek invasion (excepted for Egyptian people that were forced to it under certain conditions such as agricultural labor, large buildings, or those sentenced to hard labor). If one assumes that the fictional Royal Dynasty staged in YGO is inspired by the thirteenth Pharaonic Dynasty, the theory of foreign invasion might as well make sense to finally decipher the divine origin of Kisara. Again, I emphasize that this section is pure theory about the possible inspirations fictionalized by Kazuki Takahashi to create a myth around her White Dragon.

It's in chapter 308, volume 35, that the wars of invasion against Akunamukanon's Kingdom (which is the main motivation for the creation of the seven Millennium items) are mentioned for the first time in the memories of Akunadin. Also, while it is impossible to build castles in the air about this, having only two battles staged in the manga, it is still possible to forumlate the theory about these being a first wave of conflicts that paved the way for the Greek invasion. This scene is described as taking place "15 years before," thus leaving an hole of fifteen years about which we don't have details, except the animated flashback cited earlier in this article, which appears to take place about five, six years after. In the real Ancient Egypt, the first slaves were prisoners of war of the first invasions in the period of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Greek invasions happened much later, during the Ptolemaic Dynasty (303), led by Alexander the Great, but it is also possible that Kazuki Takahashi completely fictionalized historical Egyptian chronology to give more consistency in his script.

Let's assume then that Kisara has perhaps been the result of interbreeding of some invading Greeks in the YGO-esque ancient Egypt. We know very well that in the past crossbreeding was an important cause of ethnic discrimination, much more than being black. The scene of bullying in which the young woman appears for the first time is the perfect example. Of course, knowing that she contains within herself a KA that defies the power of the gods, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, crossbreeding does not appear as the sole reason. Let's say that it's clear that Kisara has something divine. A detail about her physical appareance is revealing: her piercing blue eyes. This attribute refers to the goddess of war among the Greeks, protector of the great city of Athens: the mythical Athena, whose bright eyes were a symbolic element. The epithet (revealing complement to the name) of the goddess is (γλαυκῶπις / glaukôpis), which means a color ranging from blue and green*. This peculiarity has also earned her the nickname (among others) of "Owl eyes" (symbol of intelligence, its eyes can be seen at night), and we shouldn't forget that this is her symbolic animal. Kisara, like Athena, embodies this feeling of power, strength, but also of wisdom and dedication. They both appear as blank figures: mythology doesn't tell much about Athena, except for Ephaistos' advaces and the white as symbol of purity associated with Kisara can be seen as such. Just as the latter offered her life for her soul, eternal, to become the sword and armor of Seto, with whom she appears to be deeply linked. In the card game M & W, it is worth noting that Athena is represented with silver hair strongly reminiscent of Kisara's appereance. This projection appears even more evident when we look at some heated debates (which I will not dwell), raising the hypothesis of Lybian origin for the myth of Athena.

***Here some complementary informations, courtesy of Allana...

The Goddess Athena is always designated by an epithet, that is an adjective that describes in practice her role. In the case of Kisara, if it is an incarnation of Athena, it's embodied by Athena Polias, that means "Athena who protects the city". Here can't talk about about a "City" (originally Greek), and Kisara and the places described are located in Egypt, but her function remains the same: to protects Seto, and thus Egypt. Other notable detail, Athena Polias never carries weapons.

However, Athena as a card in the Magic & Wizard game is a clear representation of Athena Promachos, that literally means "one who fights in front" or the one who fights in the first line. It may also very well be Athena Nike, or Athena the Victorious. Unlike Athena Polya, she holds an hoplite shield in her right hand. "Hoplite" because the shield doesn't have the head of Gorgon Medusa in the middle of it, as shown in mythology. This is the one used by the Greek elite soldiers, which probably inspired the one on the card. In her left hand she holds the spear of Poseidon. Athena disputed with Poseidon about the control of the city of Athens, as this was directly on the Aegean Sea. Poseidon made a source of water appear. Athena finally won by creating an olive tree, symbol of peace. And she also wears the helmet that symbolizes her role as Warrior. It is also interesting to note that Athena wears a white dress. It symbolizes the virginity of the goddess, white being the color associated with purity, virginity. It's an important face of the goddess. (Thanks to Allana for this clarification!)***

A second hypothesis on YGO may also be linked to the existence of the Blue Eyes White Dragon and Kisara. The starting point of this theory is the card from the "Magic & Wizard" game, "The Emissary of the Oasis". The monster shown on the picture is like a sort of water spirit, protector of the desert oasis. Going back just before the first appearance of Kisara in the original manga, a convicted thief in a bar tells how a god with the appearance of a white dragon appeared to him in the desert, while praying to get out of there alive. Looking among Egyptian gods, there is a god assigned to the desert (and oases): it's Ha, who is represented as a man with a spear (to kill hippos) and the sign of the desert on his head. Ha shares his duties with a second god, Igaya, the Lord of the Oasis. The latter too has the appearance of a man, and his signs are two Ouas scepters on the head. The scepter, associated with the god Seth, was originally used to kill snakes: note that the first dragons in Egyptian, Greek and other mythologies derive from snake creatures. The "Igai" hieroglyph itself, being written using two scepters on a shield, can also remind the Western-educated of the head of a dragon with two horns, found on the cheeks of Blue Eyes White Dragon. Kisara as well has been created on the model of several deities (if war is embodied in Athena by the Greeks, she is depicted as a goddess by the name of Neith in Egypt).

Finally, let's look at the etymological study of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, because it is downright difficult to develop the origin of the name Kisara. The video game Yu-Gi-Oh! Falsebound Kingdom (遊戯王フォルスバウンドキングダム～虚構に閉ざされた王国) gives a name to the three dragons (even if we should not forget that these dragons were originally four, Seto Kaiba tore the last, formerly owned by Sugoroku Muto): Azrael, Ibris, and Djibril.

Azrael (عزرائیل) is the name of the angel of death in the Bible and the Koran, generally described as an angel or a devil incarnate. It is one in which life began when he wrote the names of men at birth and one through whom everything ends by erasing their death. It will be the last to die when there will not be a single human life. Ibris (إبليس )is the name of a creature of fire called jinn, who refused to kneel to Adam, Allah's creation, noting the weakness of men, as breakable as clay (also an alternative name to the Hebrew people, literally "those who pass," thus referring to a civilization with nomadic origin, which are found, among others, in the history of Egypt, and can identify with a possible culture of Kisara). And finally Djibril (جبريل), which is the Arabic name of the angel Gabriel, as described in Islam that it has revealed verses of the Koran to Mohammed. It is a messenger of God, he is one of the four archangels and one who announces the birth of Jesus to Mary in the New Testament.

If Kisara is the incarnation of a goddess on earth, then her Ka appears of the White Dragon would be the spiritualization of a divine power. As usual, if you're interested in Greek references, I redirect you to a few other manga: the eternal and completely anti-mythological "Saint Seiya" 聖闘士星矢 , for the chic - the adventures of Athena always needing to be rescued by his knights, and Historiē ヒストリエ, for the shock - telling the fictionalized story of Eumenes' - a secretary and general of Alexander the Great - life in ancient Greece. Especially about the latter, you'll see how I'm right.

*Note: in the comments Pandora (under her livejournal alias amaterasunavi ), left a better explanation than mine about the translation of "glaukopis" in English:

Regarding the epithet "aux yeux Pers" ("glaukopis"), in my opinion the most fitting English translation is "bluish green eyes", but I think that there is no actual literal equivalent in English...

Obligatory repost

remaner — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:06:52 GMT

Below this there are two NSFW screenshots: