variations on the theme of "broken record"

[oiran]

...and all the ways to interpret it. Lift the needle? Not likely.

I haven't even finished my download, and I'm already sure I've got a new member to add to the list of "favorite manga boys." I was looking for something else, and found this in the process:



That hair is RED. There are other images which demonstrate that our boy, Badou, knows how to handle a gun. And, obviously, the fucking eye patch is like a ladle full of sugar heaped on top of everything else. So, I'm definitely looking forward to actually reading this thing, i.e., Dogs by Shirow Miwa. I recognize the drawing style, but I can't figure out from where, and frantic web searches aren't helping. Not even the mangaka's own site gives me any useful clues.

in other faux-boy news: I ended up on a site for a Japanese doll manufacturer whose products I have long coveted. Because I am tainted with bitter whimsy, I fell in love with a 24"-tall plastic boy who costs $900. But in order to enjoy having one such doll, you need at least two, so you can pose them together (innocently! they're just friends!), so I actually need two 24"-tall plastic boys, which means an outlay of somewhere between $1700-2000. Well, they do come with clothing and shoes and such, so maybe it's a bargain. Plus, you can pop their eyes out of their heads and switch them out for yet-more-soulful or differently-colored models.

For $2000, I could probably buy a real boy, at least for the short-term, although I bet I couldn't convince him to let me pop his eyes out for a mere two grand.

why I've been so confused about Sirius and Remus: I've never understood all the to-do and squee about Sirius and Remus. In fact, I didn't even remember them from the third book. I didn't remember anything about the third book, strangely enough, even though friends kept telling me (reminding me, almost) that it was the best one, everyone's favorite, etc. Since I own the third book, I was certain I had read it. Well, apparently I never actually did read the book. I don't know how this could have happened: reading the next "installment, as such, was something I looked forward to, and I actually purchased it, so I have no idea what stopped me from opening it and plunging in. Until yesterday. So: Sirius and Remus. Now I know who they are. That doesn't mean I'm going to care, particularly, or that I'll suddenly want to read fanfic about them, but at least I'll be on the same page as the majority of my friends list.

the best show: The Wire Are you watching? Do you have HBO? Then watch it, dammit! Cops! Baltimore! Tons of familiar faces from Homicide! But even better, I dare say, than Homicide...though, how I'd love to see the HBO version of that show. There's a huge and complex back story (and I think at least the first season is available on DVD), but the way the show is structured, you should be able to follow it well enough if you start NOW. In talking to the people I've pressured into watching this in the past, it can seem impenetrable if you try to wander in mid-season.

Mr. Glove and I were discussing that, oddly, despite our rabid devotion to the show and the characters, we don't know their names. Well, we know about half of them, and we know more thugs than cops. We know all about them - what they're passionate about, what sets them off, what they'll likely do in various situations, but we have no names for them. Instead, they're "the lawyer lady," "dumbass white cop," "dumbass black cop," "Bubbles' friend," etc.

So late. Did nothing I thought I'd do. And, yes, Rhi, that includes your read/beta. Because I wasn't going to get distracted and do any of the above stuff, see...

Ooh! *squee!* Bittorent of manga file is complete!

Comments

[teleute12.livejournal.com]

Well, he certainly looks (and sounds) yum. Let me know how the series is!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Well, I've read it, and I can report that it so rocks. And there's another cool guy (Haine Rammsteiner!!! *snerk*), who's some sort of mutant, and a girl who's pretty handy with a katana, and another girl with wings and lots of shooting and incredibly funny action scenes. But there's just the one volume and a teeny side story available--and even these are apparently several years old.

From the way the volume ends, it's obvious the artist thought this would continue...but apparently not. This really does deserve some good fanfic.

And Badou is my new 2-D boyfriend.

[teleute12.livejournal.com]

Shiiiiiiiiiiny. That sounds like something I absolutely must read - where'd you download it from?

Homework? School? I know not these things of which you speak.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Bittorent for both vol 1 and the one-shot are here: Manga Translations. It was a fairly quick download.

There are a bunch of artbook images, too, including the one I posted. I'm a little crazy wanting more stuff by this artist now.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Phwoar. That is one hot barely adult cartoon man. Lookit those skinny arms and those *manly* wrists!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The big, bony elbow thing (which goes with the big bony wrists and man-hands) just really does it for me, I guess. And the red hair. And the eye patch. Though the fact that he's a cartoon does kind of stand in the way of anything meaningful.

Plus, he smokes. So it wouldn't work anyway.

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

Two things.

First, the 'eye-popping' line: I couldn't resist, so you've gone into metaquotes.

Second thing. It's everyone's favorite book but mine. On the other hand, the filmed version is my favorite HP movie. And I never got Sirius/Remus--or even Severus/Remus, as much as my love affair with Alan Rickman and Severus Snape goes onandonandon--until I saw the film. Oh. Man. I so get it now. And the sad thing is, David Thewlis couldn't have more expressed the resigned, closeted gay man more perfectly if he had tried. You gotta wonder a little about that director...

Also. I like the manga boys you post, I've read some manga now and again, but to me, the boy from Dogs seems like he's got American arms (even specifically American midwest, raw-boned country arms) grafted below a Japanese face. That just seems...odd. And I don't know if it's what you're getting, but it seems to me, especially around the palms, that it's very similar to Milo Manara's art.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Heh. I am so self-absorbed, I knew not of the existence of metaquotes. Now I have another place to use up time in an unwise fashion ;)

I'm enjoying this book, and perhaps even more than I recall enjoying the first two. I haven't seen the PoA movie because I don't care enough to pay full theater price, and am content to wait for DVD, but I did like the second movie quite a bit. I've enjoyed David Thewlis playing any number of horrible, bad, cruel people, though I can easily see someone with his face being...not evil. He does evil well, though. Which is irrelevant, I guess ;)

I agree about Badou's arms. I have a thing for big-jointed man-boy transitional limbs, I guess. I actually was referring to my conviction that I have something else by this artist hiding on my hard drive, though I can't figure out what...but I went to that Manara link. I think I have seen Manara's stuff in the past. And, even though I was just there and clicking on everything clickable, I'll just have to take your word for it that anyone even had hands. Boobies, yes. Hands? Yeah, probably. But--boobies!!! And cute butts!

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

Transitional limbs, I'll have to remember that phrase. :)

Yeah, I clicked about after I sent off the answer in the post, and I realized, damn, this is almost entirely cheesecake, with very little of the sort of dangly, almost disjointed, overly-lined hands he used to attach to people. Dern it. :)

Well, I sent you boobies. In a sense, I'm very nearly proud of that.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Very well-drawn boobies, I might add. I don't mind being sent boobies--at least not of the "art" type. And that backbend sequence is quite interesting. A second guy just sort of pops into one corner of the frame and then goes away...

Love that icon, btw.

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

This happens a lot in Manara art. Apparently, either Italy as a whole is pretty public about the whole nudity-in-public/sex thing, or he's just keen on folks popping in, observing for a bit, and leaving. Strangeness.

On the icon--do you know, the post I made with that line is getting more action on that icon than the post?? And most people--this is the hysterical part--are creeped out beyond all measure.

Hee!

[lady-brightside.livejournal.com]

The thing about metaquotes is that someone posts something you've done there, and then other people wasting their time in an unwise fashion wander on to your journal. Unwisely or not, depending on whether the reception is 'oooh cool...random people!' or 'AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! STALKER STALKER STALKER!!! BEGONE!!!' or similar.

*looks round nervously for people with baseball bats* Ummm...hi...

Anyway, I am always delighted when anyone does not think that Sirius and Lupin are gay. I mean, I'm sure the world is full of people who don't think they're gay. It's just I've come into contact with a few to many of the other sort.

*retreats before police are called...*

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Well, to be totally accurate, I'm not sure if I think they're gay or not--I'm not far enough into the story. What I am sure of, is that I don't care if they're gay or not. I don't care if anyone in the Potterverse is gay or straight or if they have a germ phobia and thus must wank with a rubber glove. I love slash and subtext and transgressive art and all of that, but I don't have to see it to enjoy a particular piece of media.

And, um, hi yourself ;)

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about it--in this case, everyone's ignoring the actual post and creeping out over my icon, so that's just strange...

[lady-brightside.livejournal.com]

Yes...I'm creeping out over the icon as well. Sorry.

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

*giggles* It's okay. alyfan would be so proud. I might even nip over to her journal and tell her. :)

[isagel.livejournal.com]

Heh. Remus and Sirius. The third book remains my favourite, and Remus is by far my favourite character in the Potter-verse. But I can't stand Sirius. I know people rave about his beauty and hotness and angsty coolness, and the way they describe him, he sounds like a character I should like, but that description doesn't fit the Sirius Black I find in the books. I never found him very interesting to begin with, and after what was revealed about his behaviour during his school days in Order of the Phoenix, I actively dislike him. I'm fully aware that this probably has more to do with the emotional baggage I carry from my own years of being bullied in school than with what Rowling wants to convey, but all the same, I can't find it in me to root for Sirius. It's just... To tell you the truth, I'm literally angry with Rowling for the way she allowed Sirius to just gloss over the way he and James treated Snape. To me, it felt like he got away with it too easily, but then, I'm not an objective observer, since my own past makes it too easy for me to identify with Snape's perspective. Snape makes some serious mistakes based on his hatred for Sirius, but I can't see that hatred as other than justified.

You know, it's ridiculous how upset I get writing this. It's like the Snape/Sirius dynamic hits a nerve in me that is still far more raw than I generally allow myself to feel. Stupid really, put there you go... One day, I'll write a major meta post about this, because I think I need to get it off my chest by looking it through from all angles.

Oh, and on another note, I definitely still want you to do my website. I'm in the middle of moving right now, but maybe we can talk it through in a week or two, when things settle down for me?

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't gotten far enough to know exactly what you're talking about, but I do agree that bullies are not sexy. I have my own emotionally gruesome bully stories, and a bullying, victimizing, mocking pattern of behavior is one of the things that makes me hate pretty much any character in a story, pro- or fanfic.

And: yay! Website! And since I'm always so vague timewise, I can certainly wait until you're ready to go ;)

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, totally. In the books, he's an embittered, angry man with dust on his soul, and I remain convinced that while some of that is attributable to prison, some of it had to be his own personality. Until the movie came out, my brain cringed every time there was an extended Sirius sequence.

And yeah, I totally turned around my perception of the pre-Harry school bunch...I still like Lily, because to date she hasn't been proven an ass, but James? Bully with entitlement issues. Sirius supported him in almost everything. The rest were just yes-men striving for approval, and if they got it by hating Snape, so much the better.

Having been Snape in grade and high school...and more than a little suspicion that you might have been, too...there's no way I can evaluate it without memory coloring my results.

[fleegull.livejournal.com]

I haven't gotten a chance to see the new episode of The Wire (I hope it's up On Demand tonight) but it's gratifying to find a fellow fan here!!!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

It's going to be a political season, apparently. Which I have mixed feelings about, but I'm game.

There are hints that Omar will show up, sooner rather than later, and that makes me happy. I love me some shotgun-toting, cock-sucking, old-school G, yo.

Heh. Yeah, I said "yo."

You were in my dream last night, btw. Wearing a really cute pink outfit. It was just a few moments, but I was happy to see you there ;)

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

I can't see you ever getting crazy about Remus/Sirius. They're just so miserable. We have enough pain with Smallville, you know? (and I presume sad things happen to your cartoony boys also)
But the movie is EXCELLENT and they're both very lovely in it. There's a fabulous bit with sexy Gary Oldman (you were right! he's so hot! how did i not see it before?!) clasping sad lovely Remus as Remus changes into a werewolf, and trying to keep him human with the power of his love. So. Good.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

The cartoon boys in the good cartoons have angst and character development and such. The cartoon boys in the mediocre cartoons have lots of ass-fucking and unclear motivations. The cartoon boys in the bad cartoons are 1) women in disguise or 2) horrifyingly young. So, yeah. And then there's the entire issue of them being cartoons, which makes fangirling them really kind of...meta. Either fathoms more hopelessly nerdy, or incredibly more freeing, or both at once.

I am looking forward to seeing the movie mostly for the Remus and Sirius roles, just because I like both actors so much, and I really identify them both (Thewlis especially) with horrible characters who behave very, very badly, so seeing them be (presumably) not evil, sounds interesting.

And of course Gary is hot. He's got that weird, handsome-but-waxy look going on, though the years seem to be desiccating him a bit.

[pun.livejournal.com]

Sirius/Remus does nothing for me. (as a pairing, I mean. I LOVE both characters) But then, I don't read any HP fic at all or even watch the movies.

Did you get the email I sent you?

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Yes, I got it! Did you not get my reply? It said it sent, but I also got a weird glitch-related message that made me wonder if it really went through or not. So, I'll say it here: YES I WANT TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!

And I don't know if I think Remus and Sirius are in lurve or not, but I don't care, either. And, other than Dana's fic, I haven't read HP. There has been a lot recommended to me, and I thought I'd try some...but I don't really want to, I guess. It's like Buffy or Angel fic to me - I don't really feel the need, as yet, though I'm sure there's some good stuff out there.

[pun.livejournal.com]

Oh my god! No! I didn't get your reply!! Well that explains a lot!! I was wondering why you didn't even bother to write and say you'd lost interest.

Okey dokey, then. I'll send it out later tonight.

[nematoddity.livejournal.com]

There's a TON of good stuph out there, and after the bit of unintentional spoiler-bombing, you'll notice I'm not recommending anything. But I will, though. When you're through watching. Anytime you're ready. I'll wait. :)

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

Read it. The patience in my pocket is running thin. ;)

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

I will make every effort to do it tonight, but it will be late, late, late. Or maybe tomorrow. We're going out soon, see...

It's fairly likely that I will love it, though.

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I'm depressed and thinking that it sucks, I suck, that everything sucks. I was in a really good mood today until I found out about how much I'm costing my brother, and now I just feel like the biggest bum in the world. And I'm sitting here all teary and stuff...bleh. Of course, menstrual cycle could be playing into things here. And Mr. Rhi's all like, "You need to finish your novel. I know it will be great. And are you sure you aren't doing this counseling thing just because you're afraid of failing with the novel?" And I'm like,"I don't know, but I can't live this way for another ten years, and I can't write the novel when all my hopes of getting out of this situation, and not being a burden on my family is all mixed up with it." Then I feel guilty because I'm not working on it. And maybe Peter and Adam hate me! Maybe I don't have the skill to make that story work at all! *curls up in ball* I'm a big whiny baby. This is completely not about the beta, you realize. I'm just having a crisis of self.

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

And! I want people to stop telling me what to do with Peter and Adam because they are mine, mine, mine, MINE. Um, that is obviously also not directed at you.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Well, obviously it isn't directed at me, because they totally tell you what to do when they're ready for you to do it and I have even less say in the matter than you do.

I want to give the beta my full attention, and I haven't had full attention available, so I'm actually trying to be good here...

And, the job thing sucks, but it's something that, again, your brother has willingly taken on. He could have made ultimatums to you that were more structured than suggesting you work with your parents, you know? I don't know your family well, but I find myself really liking your brother because of how much he seems to love you and want to support you and help you get to wherever it is you want to be. While there are lots of people who would like to be able to do that for you, he actually can, so he does. Rock on, Brother!Rhi.

Are the novel and school mutually exclusive? I can see schooling being a distraction, sure, but it could also be a help in deepening your work and your understanding of...a heck of a lot of stuff about human nature, your own motivations, etc. So even if there's a part of you that thinks you want to do this to avoid writing, it really isn't going to be all that effective at stopping writing when you feel the urge to actually put words on paper.

I'm having cramps. I have to put on some makeup now. And, although unrelated to the previous two sentences in any real way, I love you.

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

I love you more.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about it that way, but I'm sure you're right. I think we heard the most use of names - and used for comic effect - during the meeting with Stringer Bell as the "chair."

Aside: Boy, do I ever love to hate Stringer Bell. I hope something terrible happens to him, but I'd rather it happen later than sooner. I want to keep hating him a bit longer.