Links, US Nationals, randomosity

[oyceter]

EEEEEE!!!!! Godchild 8 and Cantarella 9 and Emma 6 have finally arrived OMG I cannot contain my excitement I want to read Godchild rightthissecond! is work done yet?

Some links:

• ladyjax is looking for links for the 8th POC in SF carnival. The theme is "What Lies Between Us: Intra-racial Dialogs," and links are due 2/24.


• I thought I had already linked to this, but clearly that is a sign that LJ-as-external-memory-storage for me is more necessary than ever. The 7th POC in SF carnival goes back full circle to Willow, the person who began the carnival. Hers is on ENOUGH: The Anti-Street / Urban Anti - Exotic / Lit Carnival. I haven't had a chance to get through all the links yet, but there's a lot of good stuff in there.


• rachelmanija posts on Angel Sanctuary: 12-14, 15-17. I love that one of the cut-tags is labeled "Setsuna escapes on the back of a flying whale." The best part? I forgot about the flying whale! It is like the flying walrus, only larger and with fewer tusks.

[Poll #1130249]

US Figure Skating Nationals

After I finished my programming homework yesterday (note to self: do not count to a number that is constantly changing), I rewarded myself by watching the rest of the US Nationals. I was going to stop at a decent hour, but then I got caught up in the men's competition!

Anyway, first, I don't remember the pairs at all. Oh wait, Baldwin proposed to Inoue. I feel like I should be awww-ing, but instead I feel somewhat squicky about the white-man-Asian-woman thing, especially because usually Baldwin talks in interviews instead of Inoue. Oh,

Ice dancing: Go Belbin and Agosto! I like their new program a lot and really hope they do well at Worlds. I am a little meh about Davis and White, though I think they could be very good; I think I just didn't like their program last year. I like the understated Lonely People one much, much better than the overdone "Let's be Arabian while using western music and putting on sequined belly dancer outfits!" that you see so often in figure skating. I say this even though I am suckered into liking them anyway.

Women's: Wow! Finally, interesting stuff! I mean, I like Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes in that I think they're solid skaters and very nice people, but they're not very interesting to watch. I hate watching Sasha Cohen in interviews, but when she skates, you can tell it's her skating, not just anyone. I'm rooting for the little Asian girls and fast-forwarded through everything Dick Button to try and avoid any stupid, stupid comments about how Asians are taking over ice skating WOEZ. Also, I was glad to see two Filipina skaters (one in pairs, I think?). Anyway! I am interested to see how Caroline Zhang does once she grows a bit more, I like Rachel Wagner so far, and I don't have a good sense for Mirai Nagasu, because I've only seen her once this year. But it looks like the next few years for women's skating in the US will be much more fun to watch.

Men's: AWESOME. Personally, I really dislike Johnny Weir in terms of personality, even though his skating has been awesome this year (I wish he'd do something about the costumes, on the other hand). And even though I don't like him, it has been really cool seeing him pull it all together finally. I was sad Evan Lysacek didn't do better in the Grand Prix because I love him and also now feel less skeevy thinking he's very hot now that he's over 20. But mostly, I really like how he just goes at all his programs, and I I am enjoying watching him go out there and risking it by constantly trying the quad.

I was also scared Lysacek would just lose it, since he's the defending champ and he hasn't done as well this year overall, but I loved that even though he had a few mistakes in his short, he just went all out. And got rewarded for it too! And the cliffhanger, when Weir skated and placed a little ahead by a point or so! And then the long! That was such an exciting competition to watch -- I love that Lysacek gave the long everything he got as well, especially that awesome footwork sequence (I love his footwork sequences in general). And then Johnny Weir put in a quad! And landed it! I did snicker a bit when the announcer said something like: "Johnny Weir is skating to 'Love and War,' a piece written just for him. His costume has a broken heart on the front. His skating is layered like that."

Me: *snorfle* Because you don't get more subtle than a broken heart on your chest! Or skating as Jesus of Nazareth the year before!

I snark at Johnny Weir, but I do think it is just awesome that both he and Lysacek didn't back down and did skate their best. It's always so disappointing watching Worlds and Nationals and Europeans and have the top skaters skate worse than they did all season. Also, dude! What a way for Lysacek to win! I have to say, this is why I like the new system. I am not arguing about who deserved to win or not, because they were so close it's nearly impossible to judge, but I like that the new system does look at things like footwork and spins and whatnot and how difficult the program is.

I wave my tiny little Evan Lysacek flag! Also, I see now that Bebe Liang got into the US intl. team, and I cheer for her. She's been on the scene for a long time, and I keep rooting for her, and it's nice to see her getting better even as all the kids shoot past.

Am hoping ESPN broadcasts the Japanese nationals as well as Europeans, because the Japanese skaters are really fun to watch right now. So many good ones!

Comments

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

MORE KDRAMA!!!

And Bollywood. I recommend you start with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, or maybe Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. 90's Shah Rukh and Kajol!

[oyceter]

Yaaay a KDrama vote! I kept it off because a) I thought I was scaring people off and b) now that I am done watching 8+ hours of figure skating, I am diving right back in. Fear not! There will be a lot more KDrama babbling no matter what.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Have you seen 'Blades of Glory'? It's a fantastic parody on the world of figure skating.

[oyceter]

I haven't... I was a little put off by the snickering "look at how gay that is" tone of the previews, though from seeing bits here and there, it seems like one of them is parodying Johnny Weir?

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I think so, but I'm not as familiar with the world of figure skating as I once was.

There was a bit of a "look at how gay that is" tone to the previews, but I don't think the actual film was as problematic. I'll look up some reviews and see how other people felt.

[oyceter]

Oh, ok, that is a nice surprise.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You cannot sneaky-read Godchild at work?

[oyceter]

Well... Godchild invariably makes me burst into insane and hysterical fits of laughter and I have resolved never to read it in public due to some embarrassing incidents in cafes ;).

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, what about Cantarella and Emma?(and I should have all the available volumes of Cantarella by Monday or so...yay!)

[oyceter]

Have resisted reading at work, and now only have Emma to go!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you want to procrastinate, would you make me a flashing Heero hurt/comfort icon if I gave you screencaps? And if so, what's the limit on number of separate shots? I seriously think he has eight h/c scenes with Quatre alone.

[oyceter]

I will try, though it may take some time -- it's like making x number of icons because I individually play with all the frames to make them look good, esp. b/c screencap quality tends to be pretty bad. The limit is 40K for LJ, and I have no idea how many images that translates into... I think I had 5-6 for the fowl of DOOM one? The P et P icons are a little easier because the images I've got for them are a lot higher quality.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Whee! Whenever you get around to it!

MANY appropriate caps involving Quatre here: http://yhlee.livejournal.com/971022.html

Heero deliberately breaks his own leg in order to have an excuse to drape himself all over Duo:
http://sharona1x2.com/rapture/screencaps/ep1-5/heeroduo3_12.html

I'll search for more. It's too bad nothing but animation can convey the effect of Heero hurling himself across the room solely in order to faint in Relena's arms.

[oyceter]

Hrm, why don't you tell me exactly which ones you want? And text, if any? Hrm... Is there a longer shot of Duo and Heero? I don't think I can fit both of their faces into the square icon space.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I keep hearing about how eye loss is a manga trope, but I actually don't run into that many instances of it. Arm loss seems to show up eventually. Sometimes there are multiple and innovative instances of arm loss in one series, and some series are based on lost arms being replaced with monstrous/alien/cool weaponry with one instance of a hand being replaced by a chibi-girls.

[oyceter]

I think CLAMP may single-handedly contribute 50% of the manga eye loss out there! Hrm, I wonder if the eye loss tends to be more in shoujo and the arm loss tends to be more in shounen? I have not read enough shounen to really know.

one instance of a hand being replaced by a chibi-girls.

Made of win!

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

That may explain why I haven't come across many instances of eye loss, as there's something about CLAMP's art that gives me eye fatigue, and confuse the foreground with the background. I think there is an arm loss trend in shounen.

The boy's hand being replaced by a chibi-girl is the premise of Midori Days. The manga's a shounen version of crack-driven romantic comedy.

[oyceter]

I can definitely see arm loss as a thing for shounen. I don't even remember what series, but rachelmanija told me about one in which someone's arm is chopped off, and he stops the blood flow by clenching his muscular muscles!

[keilexandra]

I root for Kimmie Meissner just because she trains at UD, but I have to agree that she doesn't quite have a "style" down yet.

[oyceter]

Oh, cool! And I do root for her, because she seems very nice and cheerful, but I also like the flashier skaters too.

[morganlight.livejournal.com]

I can't wait for your review of Godchild. The ending is... oh, man. Of the oh-my-god-I-knew-this-was-coming-but-it's-still-so-sad kind. With lots of blood and falling glass. Whee!

[oyceter]

It is now up! Also, yes!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I lament the lack of ticky boxes!

[oyceter]

I know, I cruelly forced people to choose!

Nationals

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I used to watch skating compulsively; the last couple of Olympics of it have left me pretty blah, though, so I didn't bother to keep track of when what was on in the last 3-5 years or so.

I came across Nationals, channel-flipping, and was blown away by how much everyone seems to be going back to their skating actually LOOKING like something, instead of being jump-jump-hand-gesture-footwork-routine-jump. I'm so pleased! Is it the new scoring system that's refocussing people on actually integrating their artistry with their technical again (as in, dare I say it, the days of Hamilton, Boitano, Galindo, and Stojko -- just to pick the guys)?

Re: Nationals

[oyceter]

Yeah! I think people are finally getting used to the new system. I mean, it is hard for me to say because I started watching in earnest when the new system debuted (prior to that, was in college with no TV, and prior to that, in Taiwan with no coverage). But I like that Evan Lysacek won on the basis of his footwork and spins and details, as Johnny Weir had him beat on the jumps. It makes me want to rub commentators' noses in things, because I am so sick of the "Oh noes, the new system has ruined everything!"