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Another day gone by without an update. I feel like Piro or something. XD

I like relaxing days. Got up around 11ish, read in bed for a while (catching up on Magazines, and I'll catch up more tonight!), headed over to Kinnon's mid-afternoon.

I finished off Katamari Damacy (but it's always fun to go back and make bigger clumps!), some ... oh yeah, we forgot to check out City of Heroes! ... some Disaster Report (seeing pieces of the bridge just crumble and fall into the water after crossing them due to the earthquake was cool, it really made the game on-edge), and Siren (after dinner... boy, that game's innovative, but very dark and tricky. I'd play it more. It was freaking me out. :P) We had dinner at Memories of Japan (ordered the usual Steak + Chicken :P) and bubble tea afterwards (had Pomegranite Slush ;). ^_^

I'm just catching up on things before I turn in. I love this incense... how it smells like strawberries when you take it out of the package and smells like burning wood when lit. That's just riddikulus. Did they not test this stuff? XD

Here's some links from the good friends at B3ta:
Here's a shooter where you play as the bad guys. It's quite good!
I never go without my robot links. Here's a cute song about how Robots Are Our Friends - most of the time, anyway. ;)
This was a disturbing video... some really ancient, poor-effect music video with really bad music. This is the stuff that shows up on Fromage every year. Maybe. :P
On the other hand, this video is a really well-done video in a gym class and mimed weapons. Remember the music video for "I'm Afraid of Americans"? Think that in a highschool gym.

This isn't related to B3ta, thus the extra carriage return. :P Anyone living in the States has a chance to see the Blue Man Group in Berlin. (BMG is also scoring the soundtrack to The Jury, and here's a chance to have a paid internship with them :) )

Ganked from kinnonyee who ganked it from aechris: ( Game List )

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My Best Friend is kawaiidori

Our 17 common interests are: .hack, ah! my goddess!, angels, anime, cats, chise, computer games, computers, japan, japanese culture, japanese language, japanese music, manga, oh my goddess, saikano, saishu-heiki kanojo, video games

Who is your best friend? Username:

Created by macoto

Heehee, it's kawaiidori!

(BTW, be wary of the damn popups that come from that meme...)

Kino's a girl? Huh, I didn't realize...

I had another one of those "I want to make" mornings. Yesterday, actually. This morning, I went to it and made a Oreo "Dirt Pie" and put lots of gummi worms into it. ^_^ It worked out rather well, but in the future I need to figure out which gummi worm is the least freezable - these ones are Allan-brand, and good normally, but cold they're rather tough and chewy, and also difficult to cut with a knife. :P Experimenting is one of the things a chef does, anyhow...

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I finally went through the first DVD of Kino's Journey today. I had seen the first episode a few months ago from a Newtype USA, saw the second episode at Anime North (and decided that I want the series), and picked up the first 2 DVDs while I was at AN. I watched episodes 3 and 4 today.

Here's the concept - Kino is a traveler. By her definitions, a traveller only stays in one country (large cities, really) for a maximum of three days. With her motorad, Hermes, the two travel to a new country, stay for three days (which is definitely enough to learn the customs of this country), and then moves on.

I'm led to believe that this anime is based on a series of books. I've seen a lot of text floating around the internet (and a small "visual novel" too, thanks hysteriachan. Heh, look at this, it is. No manga, just novels.)

Let me give you an example of the stories (which I am led to believe are standalone, but weave a much larger story). In the first episode, "The Land of Visible Pain", Kino happens upon a country that is totally run by automatons - not a single person in sight. It is when she heads to the outskirts that she discovers people living there - but one person to a house, and all distanced from each other. Through talking with one timid individual, she discovers that everyone in this country drank a liquid machine that allowed people to transmit thoughts to one another without speech. It was all good at the beginning, however, this problem soon backfired as every negative thought was immediately recognized as such, and even attempts to hide these thoughts showed that they were hiding them for some reason or another. It was determined the only way to solve this problem was to live away from each other.

The next episode has nothing to do with this past country, and instead deals with survival during a snowstorm. The third episode/story has a prophecy that states the world will end tomorrow (while Kino is in this city!), and the fourth episode throws a wrench into the gears and makes you think a lot deeper than I expected. I'm not explaining any more than that for episode 4.

This is a series that I'm really starting to like. I'm all for the fanservice and such, but when it comes down to it, introspective and thought-provoking animes like Kino's Journey are beautiful to my eyes and ears. The series being not high on action but focusing on the interactions with the people and characterizations just fleshes out the important things - the people and their customs. The fourth episode totally freaks me out, because of the difference between this country's customs and what we would perceive as "normal".

I highly recommend checking this series out - Newtype had a preview disc of the first episode a few months back, so if you have a friend who's collecting the Newtypes, ask if you can borrow Kino's Journey and take a look, or rent the first DVD (which gives a different vibe than just watching the first episode alone).

Hm, there's a game for Kino's Journey... odd...