Andais

Party time!

Well, almost. I have 2 exams done, and one more to go before I am free for a very short summer break. Well, short depending on how you look at it. I have just about 3 weeks off to do whatever I want until the next semester, which is going to be a ballbuster, starts.

This means a few things

Firstly, I now will no longer have to feel guilty about reading manga when I am supposed to be studying. I know that the site that I had previously mentioned has been shut down, so here are a few others that should have their content up for a while, and have as much content as OneManga did. Manga Fox , Manga Reader , Manga Volume

This is a big thing too, since I have been reading a lot of manga lately. Read: Mammott! Lollopop!, Loveless, The world only God Knows, Awkward Silence, and a whole bunch of others that I can’t remember the titles of. I’m willing to take suggestions as well!

The summer break also means that I get to go back to playing some Warcraft. I caved this afternoon and logged in on a free trial, and, seriously, I think I now know how it feels when a junkie takes his first hit. it was intense.

Short lived, however. I have done every single starting zone of every single race of both factions that I get so mind-numbingly bored, I have to stop. This is what I am so excited that I managed to get my new priest over the hump of shitty quests (you know, to about level 40) and on to some different stuff. I’m not looking forward to Outlands, but I do want my priest to be 80.

That said, I’m not entirely sure how often I want to play my current 80′s. I’ve been hearing about a lot of negative shit that has been going on when trying to raid, or even just do some heroics. If this is true for my server, it just won’t be happening. I’m getting too old to deal with drama, or bullshit from a lot of the noobs, and the “elite” players. I might be a dying breed, but I’m in it for the game, not the bullshit.

Time off also means that I get to work on, and hopefully finish, the manga draft that I’m working on. Originally the idea that I had was going to be used for a short novel, but the more I fleshed out the plot, the more I feel that something visual is needed to do it justice. It is a damn shame that I can’t draw. Or, not well. Well, some certain things I can draw good, but people are totally out.

So, my summer vacation is almost here, while most people’s is about to end.

Summer tunes are always necessary, and this album (of which this is the title track) is totally rockin my socks.

Finally got to see the Last Airbender. Before I say much about the actual movie, the first thing I should mention is that if you are expecting the whole series, you will be sorely disappointed. From what IMDB is telling me, if you expect Books 2 and 3 to be made, you will also be sorely disappointed.

There a lot of things wrong with the movie, and not enough good things. In all honesty, you are better off watching the original cartoon than bothering with this film.

I can’t say that it was terrible, because it wasn’t, but it certainly wasn’t good. The kid who plays Sokka brings the trainwreck that is Twilight into this movie, with his bad acting, terrible character portrayal and inability to mesh into a film.  The boy who plays Aang isn’t bad. Actually, besides the actor of Uncle, he might be the best this movie has to offer, acting wise. They got all the races of all the nations totally crosses, which, if you watched the show is unsettling and disorienting.

The scenery and setting was actually surprisingly well done, with the cinematography the brightest shining light of the movie. Unfortunately, some of it was ruined with the 3D treatment, which I didn’t like at all. It didn’t need to be 3D, and shouldn’t have been. The only nice part of the 3D is that there isn’t a lot of it, and it is very subtly done.

All of the story changes just pissed me off-especially when I realized (quickly) that this was only Book 1 of the series. I mean, once that was realized, a lot more of the plot and it’s smaller points could have been developed and given a proper amount of screen time, which left me feeling both rushed and bored. Some things did not need to be in the film, and a lot of things needed expansion.

I think it’s still worth a watch, but one that is in 2D and, if you can swing it, downloaded. It isn’t worth the money to see it in theaters.

Where have I been? Well, besides school things (such as 3 midterms and a paper, to say nothing of Fall registration) I have been doing a lot of anime watching.

See, what makes watching anime hard for me is that I have seen A LOT of anime in my lifetime, so to find one that is new, interesting and (hopefully) dubbed in English is a rather daunting task. That isn’t to say that it can’t be done. Also, depending on the anime and how awesome it is, I don’t even mind watching a series more than once (like I did with Gundam Seed and Ouran High school Host club)

I should also mention that whenever I find a anime that I really enjoy, I tend to go find the manga of that anime and read it. I find that the manga version is drastically different than the anime version, with certain things toned down for the anime to make it more accessible for the masses.

Recently, I have been watching Gundam 00, and I am right near the end of season 1. Before that, I finished AirGear, Devil May Cry,  Gode Geass-Laouch of the Rebellion, Code Geass R2 and Blood +. I also just started Gravitation, but this one, I’m watching alone, without the company of my husband. Why? it falls under the category of shounen-ai, and that isn’t really his thing.

With the manga, which I find right here, I just got into Vampire Knight, and am anxiously awaiting the next installment of Ouran Host club. I can’t complain about the lateness of any of the scans, because, really, I get it free, and in English so that sort of defers any resentment I have. I’ve read a LOT of manga while I was between semesters, but now that its midterm time, I just don’t have the leisure to read an 80+ chapter manga. There is a lot of time and dedication needed to read through an entire series, and, frankly, I just don’t have it right now.

I am also completely incapable of reading just one chapter. I have to blow through the entire series in a day, or, if its super long, break it up with sleep, and go right back to it when I wake up. It’s a hard schedual to live by, and yet I am totally incapable of breaking that cycle once it starts.

The desire to know what happens next is insatiable.

Went to see Ironman 2 this past weekend. I have to say that I liked it, because I did, but there were certain things that bothered me. I don’t want to ruin anything for people that haven’t seen it yet, so be forwarned for potential spoilers.

Is it just me, or does Tony Stark always seem to make almost impossible things in a shockingly small amount of time? I mean, honestly, somehow I doubt that no matter how rich you are, you don’t just “happen” to have the parts for a particle collider kicking around. I think that Scarlett Johansson could have had more face time as Natasha Romanoff, seeing as how shes being billed as one of the huge stars of the film. Some of the plot was fairly predictable, especially where Hammer was concerned.

Don’t get me wrong there were a lot of things that I did like about the movie. The whole Ironman suit in a case, just like the comic, was awesome. Whiplash was fantastic in every way possible. And, really, who doesn’t love a superhero, who is a complete badass?

While I was at the Ironman showing, they  has previews for a bunch of upcoming movies that looked totally sick. Such as:

July 2nd will see Avatar:The last Airbender come out in theaters.

It’s actually almost insane how stoked I am to see this movie. I’m still not 100% about how I feel concerning the 3D aspect of the film, but the content seems pretty legit. I have to admit though that the fact they are putting 3 books (seasons) into one film sort of worries me. I mean, its a series that has what, 61 episodes, all compacted into one 2 hour movie. It’s a little worrisome knowing that huge chunks are going to be taken out of the plot.

Despite that, I still think the movie is going to be great.