“fruits basket” (anime; 2001-2)

“you’re under arrest” (live-action; 2002)
“NANA” (anime; 2006)–>

• fruits basket ~ last night, finally finished the 26-episode series via netflix!… and WOW, i never would’ve guessed that i’d find myself so fond of yet ANOTHER (seemingly stereotypical) high-school-teenaged story (like “shuffle” or “negima”)… but like many of these anime series, what starts out as funny and cute — emotively hooking you and forging bonds with the characters — then dramatically evolves into a darker drama, exploring the more profound depths of the characters and interrelations… here, the concluding 3 episodes were simply powerful… so what i initially and instinctively assigned as 4 stars rightfully earned 5 of 5 stars!…

• you’re under arrest ~ last night, finished this too!… just 9 live-action episodes based on the comedy-action anime… and yeah, the acting was pretty cheesy… but perhaps that’s what made it lovable as well… sad to say bye to “miyuki” and “natsumi” and “nakajima” after such a short run… 4 stars!

• NANA ~ finally!!!… after about a month, the newest download finally made available… episode 22’s new opening theme rocked!… and once again, everything — humor and drama and twists and music — were all packed again into yet another half hour… according to wikipedia, there are a total of 26 episodes, and so far #22 will be the 24th episode (including 11.5 and 21.5), so only two more shows for this 5-star season… a continuing second season is definitely likely, i hope!… lol, can’t wait!

• triggered by my new LasVegasOtaku/Subarashii anime-article assignment on the anime/manga “consumer culture”, i did a crapload of browsing/shopping, searching for “roller shoes” and taking “anime merchandise” photos!… from walmart to barnes and noble to copeland sports to borders to the sports authority to the galleria mall (electronics boutique and dick’s sporting goods and suncoast)… about 18 photos to pick from for my article…

• but after EVERYTHING, no “roller shoes” in my men’s size… instead, i did pick up a “Hooters” mag for myself and for former Hooters-girl (LOL)… finally found a great Nike cap (my old Rio cap is 8 years old!) plus a pair of new 25# dumbbells… not to mention a box of japanese “Pocky” (chocolate-covered biscuit sticks)!…

• then later at home, i finally supplemented my old HP 3.2MP digital camera (3 years old but still works great!) with a silvery-new Canon 8MP Rebel XT 350D bargain on ebay!… plus found a NICE black pair of Heely’s Slide roller shoes on amazon!… AM I INSANE?… WHEW, i think that’s it… to balance out the cost, i might have to skip meals for a few months ;)))

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• Kanu Untyo ~ Gothic Lolita
  From “Ikki Tousen”
  Scale : 1/7 (about 9 inches body length)
  Material : PVC
  Day released : Mid Oct 2006
  Our Price : 6,153 yen ($53 USD + about $20 shipping from Japan)

• Suzumiya Haruhi ~ Bunny Girl Red
  From “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”
  Scale : 1/6 (about 10 inches body height)
  Material : PVC
  Release Date: Dec 2006
  Our Price : 6,840 yen ($60 USD + about $20 shipping from Japan)

• Horiuchi Sana ~ Devil Type
  From “Pia Carrot”
  Scale : 1/8 (about 7.5 inches body length)
  Material : PVC ABS
  Release Date : Jan 2007
  Our Price : 3,990 yen ($35 USD + about $20 shipping from Japan)

genshiken figures!

heely’s roller shoes!

• friends & hooters ~ yesterday, wednesday the 11th, after another visit to the local clinic (giving blood/urine samples), drove to the post office… finally mailed out my package to for her 25th birthday next week… plus picked up my shipment from japan: two circular mirror bases for my free-standing figures…

  that afternoon, another fun midday chat with anna and took some photos of my cubicle and my outside view from the third floor, not bad!… also helped vanessa clean/spruce up her resume…

  LOL, and since i’ve never been to one, anna suggested that i try a “hooters” restaurant for the FIRST time (she worked at a “hooters” during her recent 3-month visit to the US and loved it, especially the hot wings!), i decided to ask vanessa about it… in fact, vanessa had just gone there last week with don and kiyomi, and the week before!… she also mentioned how great the wings were!… so now, a group of us are shooting for lunch for this or next week (friday the 13th or tuesday the 17th)…

  interesting tidbit: the “hooters” that anna worked at in carolina was more family-oriented, waitresses wore short shorts but with regular shirts… however, according to vanessa, the “hooters” on sahara was not so family-friendly: “The waitresses wear really short orange shorts and tank tops with their boobs hanging out. Guys enjoy it… however we gals enjoy the food.”… independently-owned apparently, LOL ;)

  then that night, finally completed the composite of 4 photos from vanessa’s son’s birthday party… former and current co-workers of the legendary “RF Code” gang, LOL!

  

• genshiken figures ~ over the last couple days, two more figures from the college-life otaku/geek comedy “genshiken”… the raven-haired “ohno” on the far left and the anime-within-an-anime “ritsuko” character on the far right… found them at decently discounted prices at robert’s anime corner store, and on ebay… NICE!

• heely’s roller shoes ~ today, thursday the 12th, FINALLY remembered to google for “sneakers with wheels”… the result: roller shoes! YES!… the reason: well, for months, years, i’ve always envied kids who rolled around on these inventive contraptions!…

  i mean, listen to this little habit of mine: for months now, each week i visit the VONS grocery store, i lay my shoulder-strap case/bag into the grocery cart, then run-and-ride the cart from station to station, pick up my items, then run-and-ride to the next aisle, and the next… hahaha, i especially love the long wide freezer aisles when i can just run at full speed, hop onto the back, and ride all the way to the haagen daz sorbets (hmmm, strawberry, lemon and mango!)… and then another great long ride to the check out stations… but the BEST part comes AFTER checkout… since the parking lot slopes downward away from the store, i run hard from the entrance, then ride the grocery cart maybe a couple-dozen parking spaces down to my camry… NICE!… so why not add “roller shoes” to the rest of my day and week, right? LOL ;)

“lady vengeance” (2005)

“ultraviolet” (2006)

“my sassy girl” (2001)

• 1 - what the [bleep] do we know (2004) ~ following a recommendation from , i decided to check out this part-documentary part-fiction film… so this morning, i watched it (apparently this AVI only contained the first 45 minutes of the full-length; later i’ll download another but unsplit file)… but after those 45 minutes, while it was entertaining, it still felt like another PBS “nature of the universe” science show, or maybe i saw it already… in any case, there wasn’t anything new about quantum theory… just a bunch of advocates with the same egocentric attitude as ancient scientists who once thought the earth was the center of the universe… so while “nowunraveling” gave it TWO stars, i might give it THREE because i like the actress Marlee Matlin, and of course, Armin “Quark” Shimerman…
  • side note 1 ~ i’m now beginning to think that the number of possible parallel realities can NEVER be completely infinite or completely dependent upon human observation, just as the space and time in the universe aren’t infinite… that is, mathematical probabilities are only a guide, not the reality… and just as subatomic particles can pop into and fade away like bubbles from this reality (as hawking wrote), so should the highly-improbable parallel universes fade away, and new ones pop into existence in their place…

  • side note 2 ~ just a note on “infinities”… since my “math fair” project in elementary school, i’ve known that there are multiple orders of infinity, not just one kind… for example, the infinity of possible points on a line segment is “lesser” than the infinity of possible line segments/paths within a 2D area… which in turn, is “lesser” than the infinity of line segments/paths within a 3D volume… this is due to the lack of “one-to-one correspondence” among these orders of infinity… so in terms of parallel realities, i perceive the possibilites NOT as the infinite number of points on a line that stretches infinitely long in both directions, BUT on the “lesser order” of infinite number of points within a defined line of limited length A-to-B… and even then, not an infinite number of points…

• 2 - [sympathy for] lady vengeance (2005) ~ finally found time to watch this korean film!… with a pretty leading lady, and the ever-tortured Choi Min-sik to play the primary antagonist… beautiful cinematography and some shocking moments, but afterwards, the film left me unsatisfied… if anything, the sublime vivaldi-like soundtrack was the best element of the film… just as beautiful as the MP3s i acquired more than 12 months ago!… THREE stars…

• 3 - ultraviolet (2006) ~ again, finally found time to watch the rest of this sci-fi flick… hmmm, while the gravity-defying matrix-style martial arts and slick “sky captain”-like comic-book look were definitely eye-catching, the story was pretty flimsy… it’s one of those movies that makes me think that, as tantalizingly super-sexy as she can be, Milla Jovovich should’ve stuck with singing… fortunately, “the fifth element” saves her… again… THREE stars…

• 4 - my sassy girl (2001) ~ yet again, finally watched this korean romantic-comedy!… a cute leading lady, and awkward leading guy… with some funny moments, some fiction-within-a-fiction action moments, some tender moments, and a warm-and-fuzzy goosebumps conclusion… between THREE and FOUR stars, haven’t decided yet ;)

• 5 - you’re under arrest (2002) ~ based on the popular action-comedy anime series, finally watched episode 1 of 10 japanese live-action parts… with the stunningly beautiful Misaki Ito as “natsumi”… hmmm, but unlike the anime, “miyuki” seems more forceful and impulsive than “natsumi”, who didn’t seem to get her fair share of important dialogue… nonetheless, THREE stars so far…