Sweet Pool

Okay, so I've discovered the fucked up world of Sweet Pool. It's a BL game with lovely CG animation and twisted characters by Nitro+ Chiral. It's gory and scary in a general sense but if you're used to the twisted humor and ingenuity of the Japanese folks then this is pure cake walk. I've been inured from that kind of treatment after watching Evangelion and X/1999. It takes  more than a pheromone releasing, pretty Youji and the grunt-man Tetsuo to make me go crazy. I haven't played the game but here's an amazing story summary by rahenna that is pure fun to read.

Cannibalizing reality

There's something cerebral about analysing a love song when one is not emotionally charged with the burdens of empathy and need for socialization. In this case, it's Sarah Brightman's Love Changes Everything, a song from her ex-hubby's Aspects of Love. I simply adore Brightman's diction and her tendency to curl some words in a melodic grasp.

It is a classic love song where you cannot simply hail it with sleaziness despite being a famous first dance in weddings. Broadway songs usually have that kind of status in the pop industry; it's not something pundits easily turn to keep money rolling.

Reminisce and... just avoid looking at Brightman's signature pallor. She still freaks me out.

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Spare me from SSS's vices. When I applied as a walk-in applicant early today, I was not prepared to be greeted with a 10 to 10.30am recess break of the Personnel department. I guess, the myth on SSS's benefits are barely distant from the thin red line.

BIR's building from the outside looks rather mediocre, a common attribute to government edifices but on the inside? It's a haunted building. Every floor is dark, the elevators can produce freaking claustrophobic inducing moments and the overall judgment is easily deduced to the myth of BIR's vena; tendency.

Where have all the cowboys gone?

Bleach meme

I'm taking this meme from thewickednix although I twisted it a bit so it'll be based on Bleach rather than Harry Potter.

01. The first character I fell in love with:
Kuchiki Byakuya. He's the tall, dark, brooding, handsome type I usually like in anime characters.

02. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Probably Ichigo. I've come to consider him as a protagonist who has far better characterization than someone like Naruto. The comparison is unfair, but considering both animes are downright famous, based on adventure and both sporting blond hair are kind of a deal for me. Ichigo has the talent but he is not drowning in his hero complex. Sure, he became Shinigami to protect his family but he's not one to blabber about being the best. He still has his shortcomings and one of the best part, I think despite being too minor in general, is being an honour student. That's pretty much a good reputation to boot with his busy schedule as a Shinigami and all that hoopla.

03. The character (most) everyone else loves that I don't:
Inoue Orihime. You can say I'm a bit of a feminist but it seriously irks me that she acts all too dumb for someone with a decent and unique power at hand. She's too blinded by her childish attraction to Ichigo that all she can do is rant about her worries. Her crush is all blown out in the manga, a reason why I stopped reading it for awhile.

04. The character I love that everyone else hates:
Hitsugaya Toushirou, I guess. I'm not yet familiar with the fans' inclinations towards characters but I know a couple of friends who aren't at ease with him. I actually like the 10th squad captain's personality. He's famous for being dubbed as tensai by gaining the captain status at an early age. Everyone was intent on either saving Rukia and Aizen snooping around in the Soul Society arc while Toushirou was the only one who had a clear head all in all in to have speculations and suspicions enough to crack Aizen's plans.

05. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
Rukia. At first, I was all cool with her because she's not the damsel in distress female character until the Soul Society arc. I hate that she had to result to self-pity while being locked in the tower. Self suffering has always been a big load of bull for me. She thinks she doesn't deserve Ichigo's help when we all know Ichigo has his pride and he owes her bigtime. I've noticed her going a bit too soft for my own liking since recently, she's either being helped by Byakuya (Bounto arc) and now with Arrancar arc she was stabbed dead on by Grimmjow because she was too busy nagging Ichigo to run and save his goddamn arse. I just hate that. She faded from being a mentor to Ichigo to a leading lady type who cannot stop being a motherhen.

06. The character I would shag any time:
Aizen Sousuke in his evil Superman form. Aren't we all for bad, genius, handsome guys? Stopping Ichigo's bankai with a finger and barely blinking to fully incapacitate a captain earn his big brownie points.

07. The character I want to be like:
Yoruichi. She's the only female character I can really stand to a full extent. She has the strength and confidence to fight and she's not going to scream for help, burst into tears or wallow in self pity if she ever got a fatal wound or got dumped by a boyfriend. Bonus for being the shunpo champion against Byakuya since time immemorial.

08. The character I'd slap:
Oh many. I'd slap Ichigo for being too immature and relying on a woman to force his knees not to buckle under pressure. Rukia and Orihime can go dig their own graves for all I care.

09. A pairing that I love:
Byakuya/Ichigo no matter how much of a crack pairing they may be. It's simply inspiring to see several emotions pass on Byakuya's face because of Ichigo. I also like several pairings like Shuuhei/Kira, Shunsui/Jushiro, Aizen/Gin, Isshin/Ryuuken, etc. With the variety of characters popping in every arc, there's a variety of new pairings that are emerging so it will be endless.

10. Two pairings that I hate:
Ichigo/Rukia. Understandably, Ichigo's still in the identity crisis period but jeezus, it might as well be considered that Ichigo's going to be a shirt lifter by the time he gets twenty. On Rukia's defense, I think it's all a residual guilt from her experience with Shiba Kaien whose personality resembles Ichigo's spot on.

Byakuya/Rukia. Jesus christ, seriously. I know Hisana looks a lot like Rukia (a seriously twisted part on Tite Kubo or he lacked imagination that time) but I think Byakuya has enough moral to not pass his adoration from one sister to another. It's a pairing worthy of a series of facepalms and I'd rather read Byakuya/Renji any day versus that trash.

11.Favourite character:
Byakuya. For being all noble and all he has enough burdens from the past that would make him a candidate for a psychological genre. He can suit himself fine in X/1999 I guess, just like Subaru. All quiet, jaded and strong. He's the type I won't have any problem dissecting their past.

12. My six favourite characters:
Kuchiki Byakuya, Zaraki Kenpachi, Shihoin Yoruichi, Urahara Kisuke, Kyouraku Shunsui and Kurosaki Ichigo.


13. My five least favourite characters:
Orihime Inoue, Kuchiki Rukia, Soutaicho (he's got a long name), Tousen Kaname, Soi Fong.

14. Which character I am most like:
I can't see myself having similarities with the characters.

15. My deep, dark fandom secret:
The romantic aspect of Bleach is a big, flat, useless aspect on the story. I really have no inclination of giving it consideration until the next lifetime. It's just that, knowing that the action manga originally is meant for teenage boys, it is rather safe to say that the callow crushes give a bad side of Bleach. I'd rather stick to how to stop Aizen, please.

Soul Society update!

Bleach is taking over my life, obviously. Lammy's the only one whom I can rant and worship characters with endlessly; at least I can vent out the Bleach mania. We both adore Kuchiki Byakuya for different reasons. While we both agree that he is all powerful and his bankai is nothing to be ashamed of (seriously, Zabimaru?), I'm all for pairing him with Ichigo no matter how much of a crack pairing it is seen. But as much as I put Byakuya on a pedestal, the 11th squad is the best and the most fun-filled squad amongst the thirteen. Yachiru spitting on Ikkaku's pachinko-ball head is just the start of continuous hilarity. I love Zaraki Kenpachi, too, by no small means. I just wish he would discover his bankai before the manga finishes so he'll be all invincible. Just imagine that; he can probably pawn Ichigo in his sleep.

I skipped several episodes because Lam kept drilling me about the damn fillers, and fillers they were; nearly forty of them for heaven's sake! That's like a year long stagnation to make the original script with the manga run smoothly. So they inserted the Bounto arc which I decided to skip except for the three episodes where Byakuya and Ichigo fought with Kariya. That was lovely and very inspiring. I can just imagine the two of them having a lovers' tiff even in the middle of a freaking fight and still win. That's taking foreplay to another level. Anyhow, back to the episodes. I skipped from episode 68, I think, and jumped to the main storyline around episode 110. The problem with me, according to Lam is that I read too much spoilers online (through fanfics and Bleach Wiki) so the surprise element is not that felt. I can't help it! But for some reason, even if I already knew from the start, I seriously didn't see Isshin suddenly slashing the Grand Fisher in the middle of the night bearing a captain's haori as a sash. He obviously still has his captain class intuition if he were able to detect that Ichigo was having a stilted conversation with Shinji while Kon was being pummelled around Karakura by the Grand Fisher in a pseudo-Arrancar stage. Aizen's on the move, already. Gah! Oh my god, I can already see Grimmjow on the 116th episode. Crap, I know I have to be at the dentist by nine tomorrow because I've been skipping appointments for nearly two months now but I have to watch him. Now.

I think I should thank Bleach too for making me write something passable for a new fic. It's not weighed to be a comeback fic but I'm hoping my Bleach muse will stem out continuously until I drive myself to death with Byakuya/Ichigo fics. There's the chance too of taking up the manga sometime this weekend if I can. All the better if I can keep up with the manga and anime to see other details.

Left or right

God, this is a bad one. I've been grateful to myself and the powers that be that I'm back to reading which makes my brain run a bit faster despite its rusty cogs. I've loaned and pleaded with friends and acquaintances to donate books for my charity case. I'm reading two books at the same time, something which is not part of my reading discipline. I am happy. I am content. But noooo, the powers that be decided that today, I was too bored to turn off the laptop a tad too early even if I've been blankly staring at Google's homepage for several minutes until a Zoro/Luffy comment made me look for the 138th episode. My stupid self got amazed that hey! there's a website solely dedicated to the manga and anime of One Piece and up to the 400th something anime episode! I scrolled down and saw affiliated websites and voila! Bleach has gripped me by the oesophagus enough to choke me to watch the first episode and the slow fire of lust for another anime is building up to be a conflagration. And fuck it all, I cannot stop myself. My patience cannot stand the fact that my ISP's bandwidth cannot withstand a torrent download, a video buffering and a manga page downloading so I'm all going ballistic here writing something to assuage my unquenched hunger. Fuck, the animation is lovely as hell because come on, it's the first time I've seen an anime with more yuri potential (with all those androgynous faces; you can start with Kuchiki Rukia, all right) and it's a big time out from CLAMP-like animes.

So you know? Goodbye The Sopranos, you're first up in the long queue of Collect-Dust-Till-Kingdom-Come along with the other books I have prepared. It's bad enough I feel ashamed when I see them, but it will become worse if I can't get past the first ten episodes of Bleach, which has more smashing material than any of Naruto's adolescent aspirations laid out. After all, Itachi's long dead and my Uchicest fandom died with him; unless Sasuke's into necromancy leading to necrophilia, then that's another story.

Hopping, skipping, tripping

I've known Sergei Rachmaninoff's works for years yet appallingly, I am only familiar through auditory retention. Far from being isolated as the lesser known composers of the classical Romanticism period, his works far preceded his name and reputation through the present years. I'm absolutely in love with his works; the precision and magnitude of knowing his unique capability for salient notes are perfection and timeless. I think Piano Concerto no. 3 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini are unquestionable in their importance. It takes precedence however, that Tchaikovsky--who had a chummy relationship with Saint-Saëns and drowned in depression--once became Rachmaninoff's significant mentor.

How gratifying it is to indulge myself in the works of long dead people, long defunct bands, the long forgotten and the under appreciated. These folks are probably rolling in their graves considering the bandwagon of today's refinement. A cemented reason to my long running ignorance of today's music vogue.

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It has been a long established truth that I gain more satisfaction and enjoyment when embarking on an adventure in Quiapo or Divisoria rather than the gilded visage of malls these days. Not only can I buy tons of useful knick knacks here and there even with five hundred bucks but the chance of being part of the pleb and not be scorned for it is a breather. I joined Cors in her escapade to have her fortune mapped out for her research paper; at the same time, we had a blast buying accessories and DVDs to ensure our jobless days will at least run brighter.

My hypocrisy and impulsiveness acted way out of hand when I decided to buy the complete seasons of The Sopranos. When I got home, I couldn't help but cringe in dismay by the lack of restraint I showed and the stack of books that welcomed me.

Simply eureka

Even before I had the consciousness to admit it, I've been fascinated with science. It is a subject that is the root of all other discipline in terms of theory, hypotheses and rule-based conclusions. It does not lean towards the mysterious, cryptic, far-flung ideas and approximations that human beings are capable of. I wasn't raised to fall head deep in science's clutches but the vicariousness I undergo through seeing people write and re-write history on everything worth to be proven provided by human beings' geniuses is exhilarating, awe-inspiring at best and disturbing at worst.

Fermat's Last Theorem is one of the many topics BBC Horizon focused on. It is the ultimate, perplexing, preternatural and infamous mathematical problem that has been left unsolved for three hundred years. Until Andrew Wiles was born and decided early on in his life that he will prove Fermat and all other theories and conjectures that branched from the immemorial scientific mystery true by the ends and limitations of mathematics. The episode barely intended to show the final solution as seeing the dedicated forty-five minutes to the history and consecutive historical events are still not enough to convey the very significance of it. A handful of mathematics professors supported the very thought of impossibility and wonderment in relation to the seven years of continuous dedicated Wiles had, not suffered, but thoroughly relished and enjoyed in attempting to solve.

Nothing so simple and elegant could be understood by plebeian thought but isn't that what's great about it? I can barely understand half of my relentless endeavour for science and its complexities but it is indubitable in its concreteness and solution that all of the blossoming problems of today will have a definite answer tomorrow. In short, science is my religion.