Almost to the end!

This covers Capri, 9/27 and the first day in Naples. Alas, there is no corresponding write-up of Naples, largely because by that time, I was feeling really, really sick and grumpy. Also, the very first day we were there, we went on a bus tour of the city, and it was scorching hot, I was sick, I was tired, the bus bounced around and traffic was horrible, I had a headache, and I was very irritable.

I think I did write up something, but it largely consists of: "Naples has the worst traffic ever. Am sick. Bus ride sucks. Too hot gross ew ew ew don't feel good woe."

( Huge pictures )

All TV shows I've seen

Last updated: 2/8/2008

• TV Series


• Dramas

TV Series

• Alias [tag] - fled
  Spy show with sleek gadgets and insane plotting. Started out fun, and then made me want to spork out my eyes because of the treatment of women, despite the (originally) kickass heroine.


• Angel: the Series [tag] - killed
  Buffy spinoff that grew into its own fairly early on. Vampire in LA trying for redemption despite increasingly steep odds. I love it despite my many issues (treatment of women, Joss' usual world-building holes, treatment of race), and it's still one of my favorites.


• Avatar: the Last Airbender [tag] - currently watching
  Elemental fantasy world. Some consequences aren't as harsh as they could be, largely because of the limitations imposed by the network (Nickolodeon), though I love how the show uses Asian cultural influences for its world building. Also, super props for having an entire show with no white people. Also, this show just makes me laugh.


• Battlestar Galactica (new) [tag] - fled
  Humans vs. intelligent machines that look human, complete with fighter pilots and exploding things. Love the miniseries, got completely bored during S1. Watched a few random S3 episodes, some of which were great, but got bored again.


• Blood Ties [tag] - currently watching
  PI gets help from a vampire. I love the heroine (the PI), though the MotW format bores me a little.


• Buffy the Vampire Slayer [tag] - finished
  One girl in all the world... Kickass quippy heroine. I love this to pieces despite occasional qualms (Joss' usual world-building holes, occasionally problematic interpretation of feminism, complete lack of POC). This got me back into fandom and into the world of LJ.


• The Collector [tag] - fled
  Now-immortal monk sells his soul and ends up collecting them for the Devil, though thanks to another bargain, he ends up getting 48 hours to try and save them. Clunky dialogue. I got bored.


• Dead Like Me [tag] - finished
  Teenage girl dies and ends up as a Grim Reaper. Despite a shaky first few episodes and truly awful world building, this grows into a very touching show about living.


• Farscape [tag] - fled
  Um. Astronaut from Earth gets wormholed into a motley crew? I got bored during S1. Does have cool kickass woman in Aeryn.


• Firefly [tag] - killed
  Western in space! I love this to pieces despite not-so-occasional qualms (Joss' usual world-building holes, occasionally problematic treatment of women, COMPLETE LACK OF POC DESPITE CHINESE SETTING). Joss, c'mon. I love you, but you keep doing the same problematic things.


• Good Eats [tag] - currently watching
  The reason why I am addicted to the Food Network. Could use more non-Western recipes and techniques, but I adore Alton Brown and his complete geekiness, amazingly comprehensible food science explanations, crazy props, recurring characters, and especially how the show teaches not only recipes, but demonstrates foundation techniques and explains why things work in the kitchen.


• Heroes [tag] - fled
  People with extraordinary abilities start popping up worldwide and must try to save New York from being blown up. Problematic treatment of women and POC. Great first season, lousy second season, am not sure if I will stay on for the third.


• Homicide: Life on the Street [tag] - currently watching
  So far, a smart, articulate show about Baltimore cops, with smart portrayals of racial relationships! Amazing.


• Joan of Arcadia [tag] - fled
  Girl gets missions from God. Really cute-but-not-cutesy first season with a great cast of characters, but I got bored during S2.


• Life [tag] - currently watching
  Cop back on job after being wrongfully imprisoned for ten years. The cop annoys me, but I love his partner and am hoping for a Mulder-Scully dynamic.


• The Office [tag] - fled
  The lives and loves of the employees of a small paper company. Sharp humor (Diversity Day!) and really great dialogue, but I ended up not watching because it's a little too close to home to enjoy.


• Pushing Daisies [tag] - currently watching
  Quirky show about a guy who can bring people back to life with a touch. But with another, they drop dead again. I love the Technicolor art direction and the odd but incredibly sweet storylines. Also, it has a black knitting detective who is the best thing ever.


• Sarah Connor Chronicles [tag] - currently watching
  Takes place post-T2 and renders T3 AU. So far, I love Sarah Connor and Cameron and Ellison, and the show has been pleasantly exceeding expectations by how smart it's being. It's not a take on genre tropes, but it seems to be fairly solid, and bonus points for female lead, more than one woman in the credits, and POC with a good role.


• Scrubs [tag] - currently watching
  Hospital sitcom with zany fantasy sequences and apparently pretty accurate medicine. I really love this show, and it never ceases to make me laugh and also go "awwww" (also: yay! Actual POC on screen!).


• So You Think You Can Dance [tag] - currently watching
  The show that broke my refusal to watch reality shows! Awesome dancing and choreography, and I love watching all the dancers attempting things in different genres. Also, bonus points for avoiding my embarrassment squick.


• Spooks/MI-5 [tag] - currently watching
  Great British spy show with intelligent writing that has Holy Shit Quotient like no other and understands that spy drama comes from spy stuff and politics, not personal life stuff. One of my favorite shows that more people need to be watching.


• Stargate: SG-1 [tag] - fled
  Um. So there's this Stargate that allows people to travel to different worlds. Somewhat cheesy and clunky at times; I can see the goodwill toward the show, but I eventually got bored and just wandered off.


• Supernatural [tag] - fled
  Two brothers hunt demons and have lots of familial angst. I found this mildly amusing at times, but I got bored.


• Ugly Betty [tag] - fled
  Not-too-fashionable Betty Suarez works at fashionable and rather shallow Mode Magazine. Props for lots of POC, but I just never got hooked.


• Ultraviolet - finished
  Highly recommended 6-episode series. Modern-day vampires with actual, not-too-sporky science and intelligent characters!


• Veronica Mars [tag] - fled
  Spunky, sarcastic girl detective. Awesome first season, mediocre second season, and then I threw things at the TV during the beginning of S3 and never went back.


• The X-Files [tag] - fled
  The show that first got me into fandom, way back when! I will always love it, even though I've only seen bits and pieces (some S2, most of S3 and S4, some of S5, most of S7). I love the first seasons, hate S7 and got bored during S8; given everyone else's reactions, I am forever thankful that I skipped out before the show really went down the tubes.

Dramas

• Coffee Prince [tag] - finished
  Cross-dressing heroine meets hero, with requisite love quadrangle. The cutest thing ever. Ever! Also, one of my favorite treatments of the cross-dressing heroine trope. Just thinking about this show brings a goofy grin to my face, and I love it beyond words.


• Dal Ja's Spring [tag] - currently watching
  33-year-old Oh Dal Ja is supposedly another Bridget-Jones-esque figure, only the show quickly goes from that to looking into her work life and relationships. Though some plot points annoy the heck out of me so far, I love Tae Bong, the completely non-alpha romantic lead, and I very much love all of Dal Ja's friendships with co-workers, mostly women.


• Damo [tag] - finished
  A tea servant for the police in the Joseon Dynasty and her superior officer uncover a national counterfeiting conspiracy. I love the heroine and the hero, and I particularly love how the drama focuses on the constraints on the heroine's life and the difficult choices she must make.


• Fantasy Couple [tag] - finished
  Rich, snobby heroine bumps into working-class hero. She eventually gets amnesia (!), and as a way to get his money back, he convinces her she's his lover so she'll clean his house. The supporting characters aren't as good as some in other dramas, but I love Jang Chul-Soo and really love Anna.


• My Name Is Kim Sam Soon [tag] - finished
  Bridget-Jones-esque 30-some pastry chef falls for rich restaurant owner. I love this because Sam Soon is forthright and honest and goes for what she wants. Sometimes I want to hit the guy over the head, and especially the Other Woman, but this is still funny and touching. Also, Sam Soon, her mother, and her older sister are awesome!


• Nobuta wo Produce [tag] - finished
  Popular Shuuji and extremely odd Akira end up "producing" Nobuta to stop her from being bullied by other girls. The premise sounds awful, but this is one of the best takes on the Pygmalion trope I've seen, and I particularly love how it examines popularity and social acceptance. I didn't like the ending, but the rest of the show is great.


• Snow Queen [tag] - currently watching
  Math genius turned boxer and woman dying of some wasting illness meet as kids, then apparently re-meet. Melodramatic to the max and not that great, but the "two hurt people growing closer" thing gets me every time.

Yuki Kaori - Angel Sanctuary, vol. 04-07 (Eng. trans.)

Um, so, I'm actually up to vol. 17 of Angel Sanctuary, but since I've been sticking to my usual MO of reading one or two volumes every three months or so, I have no clue what's going on or how I got there. I think I get distracted too easily...

Unfortunately, despite rereading, I am still not quite sure what's going on or how I got there, but at least now, I am more certain that this is due to Yuki Kaori's cracktastic plotting and not my own sieve-like mind. But still! I am excited because one of my very favorite characters gets introduced around here! Also, amazingly, Yuki Kaori actually has some foreshadowing for latter volumes!

And at least this time around, I'm having an easier time telling everyone apart, though it's still pretty difficult! When I told one of my RL friends that I had a hard time telling Uriel and Zaphkiel apart, she was baffled. "But Uriel has curly hair and Zaphkiel has straight hair! It's so obvious!"

"Oh," I said sadly, my usual reliance on hairdos stymied by the long flowing hair every character has. I think it would be much easier if they had bells in their hair or if they weren't all impossibly beautiful or something. It amuses me that everyone who sees Setsuna has to note that he looks similar, because otherwise, you really can't tell because everyone looks similar!

( Spoilers )

All anime series I've seen

Last updated: 1/3/2008

Apparently I highly recommend a lot of stuff. Mostly (hopefully) this is because I stop watching things that don't interest me.

• OVAs/Movies [tag]


• Bleach [tag] - fled
  Your standard shounen anime adaptation. The voicework is fun, but I prefer the manga.


• Cowboy Bebop - finished
  Highly recommended. Gorgeous animation, bebop music, bounty hunters, and the Western-in-space conceit years before Firefly aired.


• Fruits Basket - finished
  Recommended, though the manga is even better. Somewhat too candy-colored at first, but gradually deepens.


• Fullmetal Alchemist [tag] - finished
  Highly recommended. Plot like whoa, great emotional arcs, excellent characters.


• Gundam Wing [tag] - finished
  My first anime! Giant robots and complex politics, with pretty boys to boot. Recommended only if you're a fan of mecha, or unless you are a giant fan of insane, suicidal bishounen pilots! I just rewatched this with rachelmanija, and boy was it fun.


• Gunslinger Girl [tag] - finished
  Pretty good. More one-offs about little girl assassins than plotty.


• Haibane Renmei [tag] - finished
  I really liked this small, quiet series about living and forgiving and moving on.


• Honey and Clover [tag] - finished
  Possibly my favorite anime ever. Aka, cannot rec this highly enough. Five art students and their lives through several years.


• Last Exile [tag] - finished
  Steampunk with fighter pilots. Starts good, but sort of falls apart.


• Mushishi [tag] - currently watching
  Highly recommended so far. Dreamy and atmospheric and wonderfully strange.


• Neon Genesis Evangelion - finished
  Apocalyptic anime with insane religious symbolism and interesting takes on mecha tropes. I love this; most people understandably don't because the ending wanders off into OMGWTFBBQ-land.


• Ouran High School Host Club [tag] - finished
  Shoujo meta. Hilarious and highly recommended.


• Princess Tutu [tag] - finished
  Metanarrative about a duck-turned-girl-turned-magical-ballerina who saves the world through ballet. Highly recommended.


• Revolutionary Girl Utena - finished
  Highly recommended. Fairy-tale meta, genderbending, cross dressing, symbolism, and complete insanity, plus one of my favorite fictional lesbian couples.


• Romeo x Juliet [tag] - fled
  Romeo and Juliet with a flying city and cross-dressing Juliet. Despite the coolness of flying cities and cross-dressing, I got bored.


• Rose of Versailles [tag] - currently watching
  Anime based Ikeda Riyoko's classic Rose of Versailles. Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution, complete with genderbending and cross dressing. Still withholding judgment.


• Saiunkoku Monogatari [tag] - fled
  Not bad, but currently not too exciting. Young woman tries to be a bureaucrat in Tang-Dynasty-China analogue. Lots of bishounen.


• Samurai Champloo [tag] - finished
  Hip-hop and Meiji Japan, I kid you not. Recommended.


• Vision of Escaflowne - finished
  Fantasy with mecha and an Absolute Fate Engine or something. Not bad, but not great either.


• X [tag] - finished
  Gothic shoujo as only CLAMP can do. Pretty good, if you like Gothic shoujo.


• Yami no Matsuei [tag] - finished
  Recommended for the True Love of Hisoka and Tsuzuki, completely not recommended for everything else.

Other series that I've seen snippets up and never finished: Gasaraki, Kare Kano, Trigun

(no subject)

I don't think I've been able to travel anywhere further than half and hour out from my house without experiencing all sorts of transportation woes. Of course, much of this is my own doing, but still. Recently, it's been just going to work -- I got stuck on the expressway for an hour for a drive that usually takes fifteen minutes because I managed to run into not one, but two accidents.

Perhaps my luck has changed! Or, more precisely, perhaps I've managed to make it work for me!

My flight to LAX was going to leave at 8:40; since the airport is close to work, I was just going to veg out at the local Borders and make it to the airport. Alas, me being me, I got a little distracted by Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 2 and Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden vol. 5 (ok, I totally lied when I said I was giving up Yuu Watase). I managed to get lost about eighteen different times, and when I finally made it to the airport, long-term parking seemed half an hour away, and I basically figured I was going to miss the plane to my grandfather's funeral and everyone would yell at me for not giving myself enough time to make the flight.

By the time I got to the check-in counter, I had an hour to check-in and make it through security, and I figured I would make it, even if it was a bit tight (yay no baggage to check-in), and promptly began to freak out a little over not enough time! I will miss the flight! Woe!

I played with the touchscreen and feared that it would lose my reservation, which I triple-checked because I was never emailed the receipt. It found the reservation, and then kindly informed me that my flight was two hours late and would miss my connecting flight, would I like to book something else.

At this point, I nearly sat down and cried and laughed at the same time. Thankfully, a nice UA person was nearby and let me know that they had already made arrangements for everyone with connecting flights and would not only give me my boarding pass right there, but would also drive me up to SFO, where the other flight was.

So, while I have missed my flight, I am now safely ensconed in SFO with hours to spare (I like SFO better than San Jose), I have browsed through the airport bookstore, which is really quite good (branch of Books Inc, even has manga to my great amusement), and instead of having to take a red-eye with two layovers, I now only have to go through one layover. And I still get to my aunt's at the same time as before.

Murphy strikes again, but for once, to my advantage!

Veronica Mars 3x05 President Evil

Sorry, I've been spamming LJ for weeks because I've been so bored at work, despite the busy-ness. And now I am at an airport and want people to entertain me!

( Spoilers )