Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."

• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

As a free-thinker, I tend to gravitate towards other free-thinkers, regardless of their stance on various subjects. I sympathize more with characters who are civil, though...obnoxious free-thinkers are, well, obnoxious.

Tags: opposites attract, writer's block

Whoa, Jesus! I need to update this thing more often. And actually like check on it because I keep falling behind on reading my flist and versipellis is awesome and this is the only way I have of keeping up with you darling. :< I'm sorryyyyyyyy.

Also, I get to go see the new Twilight movie today!!!! 8D 8D 8D 8D!!!

Okay, okay, maybe that was a bit too sarcastic, and I feel like it deserves some real explaining. I'm my younger brother's official Gub'ment Sanctioned Aide, and I get paid by the state to keep him engaged so he doesn't become a complete lump by playing video games and watching TV all day. Keep that brainpan of his sizzling, you know? Part of the program encourages taking him out to go see movies, which is cool because we get to see some decent movies I normally wouldn't spend a dime on (Hannah Montanna (though I've come to dislike the show/series over the past couple months, but it was cool at the time), Wolverine (Deadpooooooooooool <3), and The Watchmen (okay I'd have actually spent money on that one). (I wanted to take him to see Ponyo and 9, but he just wasn't interested. I got to see them on my own time, so that's cool, but it still would have been nice to see them again.)

My brother is a vampire whore; you could put a vampire in the crappiest movie and he would watch it and love it and buy the DVD. We have an insane amount of B-movies about vampires in this house. Like it's not funny. So it's really no surprise that he wants to see the new Twilight, and it sucks, and it's going to be two hours of my life I'll want back on my deathbed, but I'm getting paid to sit on my ass for those two hours and actually see how bad of a cliche the characters really are than just listening to word of mouth, therefore justifying my hatred of the series.

I haven't posted it on my writing LJ yet, but over at Plight of the Freedom Fighters 2, we've had to do a format change due to the artist and leader, Sio, being absolutely gobsmacked with schoolwork ("gobsmacked" is an awesome verb. Thanks, Britain and any other UK countries that use it!). So instead of being a predominantly drawn media with written support, PFF2 is now a predominantly written media with drawn support. And being one of the two writers on the team, guess who has been contributing scenes to the project? Oh yeah, baby. :D

Oh! Also, we have our first troll! I feel so accomplished. You know an internet project has made it when you have a troll <3

Side-note: am hungry, must eat. Lates.

EDiT: Oh yes! I found out that the Valve store is selling official Left 4 Dead merchandise, including Ellis' Bull Shifters shirt, and a few different Francis shirts about things Francis hates. And I have superhearts for Ellis and Francis. <3

Tags: behhhhh

This is a picture meme ganked from greliz .

( OSSUMPICTUREMEME )

A few weeks ago, I wrote an entry detailing my top ten favorite fictional females - or at least ten of my favorite fictional females, because picking any ten over the rest is impossible. I'm a feminist and phylogynist, so finding a strong female character in any media, even if it's one I have no exposure to whatsoever, is a high point in my day. (Unless I just don't like the universe the character comes from, like Naruto or Final Fantasy or whatever. Sorry, fans of both! Those are just my tastes.)

Just a few minutes ago, I wandered into a room of my house with the TV on (I never actively watch it), and an episode of Psych was on. I've never seen an episode of it, mostly because I couldn't be assed to go out of my way and watch it, but what I caught today was genuinely impressive: I assume that this is a main character, but a woman of Indian descent was due to be part of an arranged marriage to a friend of hers via their parents. The two male main characters arrive at the ceremony, and talk to the female character - they'd been trying to convince her to do what felt right by her (to not get married simply because her parents decided she should), and there was this really powerful moment where she goes, 'You guys were right; thanks for being here, because in fifteen minutes I'm going to go in there and piss off a bunch of hindus and [some other Indian subculture]s, and I might need an escape vehicle.'

A few scenes later, and the engagement ceremony is about to finish - but before the groom (unsure of proper terminology here, so I'm rolling with what I know) can put the ring on the female character's finger, she stops him - turns to the audience - and proclaims, 'I'm thankful to all of you for coming, and I'm sorry to have wasted all of your time, but there will be no engagement ceremony and there will be no wedding.' It was fantastic! The character continued on about how, she shouldn't marry because tradition declared prearrangement, how she and the groom were just friends - how they should be allowed to love other people instead of forced to love each other, which is the only sort of love the two were allowed growing up. It was a fantastic scene! This smart, attractive woman, in touch with her culture while aware of the fallacies of its archaic traditions, standing up for herself, sticking by her opinions and feelings and being respectful all the while. She didn't dredge up aforementioned fallacies, she didn't compare herself or her culture to anyone else, and seeing that sort of strength in any form of massively distributed media is just phenominal. I felt right then and there that, maybe in not watching Psyche, I may have missed a gem - that the series would actually be worth my time to pursue, if it could portray a female character so boldly.

And then there was a flash of light, and we're right back to where the engagement ceremony had cut off - and the groom puts the ring on her finger, and she has this look on her face.

'That's what I want to do.'

Rather than stopping - from living out her fantasy - the woman looks down at their hands, and the ring in hers that needs to go on his finger - and you can just tell what she's thinking, how she got cold feet, how she didn't have that same power that she'd displayed in the fake-out scene.

Now - I'll give credit where it's due. Not everybody can have that kind of strength, regardless of how much they talk. People get scared, the burden of reality and responsibility and other peoples' expectations bearing down on them. That sort of thing has a lot of weight. As empowered as those scenes made me feel before the fake-out, as much as I wanted to put this character on my list of favorite female characters even though I barely knew her, I was let down by the same reality that kept her from speaking up. The scene itself wasn't forced, it wasn't trite or contrived - from a literary aspect, it did its job in making me feel for this character, who even though she wanted with all of her heart to be her own person, she succumbed to the will of her parents, and the groom's parents.

That still doesn't mean it wasn't disappointing, though. Oh well. Maybe the next random show I happen to walk in on will have an equally powerful female character that has the balls (heh) to stand up for what she believes is right.

- - -

On a side-note, I'll be heading down to Texas for AnimeFEST this thursday! I'll be gone till Tuesday the 8th. See you all later!

If this walk through for Jet Grind Radio's original Japanese release is true:

1: Combo joins the GGs immediately after you clear the first mission, Shibuya GG, and most of his tests have been lifted from Piranha's original challenges as well as Cube's original challenge in Jet Grind Radio.

2: Chapter 1 ends after you've unlocked Combo.

3: Mew challenges you after you beat the Poison Jam, and has completely new tests.

4: Cube challenges you after Benten Boogie and has lifted her tests from Mew's Jet Grind Radio tests.

5: Kogane has a bonus mission after Kogane Circus that acts as a Jet Graffiti mode, and the Golden Rhinos don't kidnap the Poison Jam until after you've beaten this level.

6: Yo-Yo challenges you after Graffiti High.

7: Chapter 3 starts once you have beaten the Poison Jam, Noise Tanks and Love Shockers.

8: Piranha challenges you with a Jet Crush around Shibuya-Cho (which I guess is fair trade as Combo stole two of hers).

Also, I've determined that Smilebit totally botched the potentially awesome concept of cyberpunk meshing with streetpunk when making Jet Set Radio Future.

Why the hell does my garbage pail smell like fish? >_O Also, I need to redo these King Dedede icons.

Tags: ew

versipellis , we were so mean to Onishima. =(  I feel like writing a drabble about him to make up for it.

Ah, tired, cranky, it's late at night and I'm struggling to find an interesting character to apply to an online tabletop game I'll be playing this sunday within a relatively straight-laced context...and versipellis  made me a little more frustrated with some DN fic, though that part's not bad. :D

To vent, though - or to keep my mind off the frustration, either way - I'm writing an LJ entry for the first time in at least three weeks if not longer.

So: Meme first! My top ten girls of action and why I like them, in no particular order:

( Mmmm ladies )

- - -

So, about two weeks ago, I got a note on DeviantArt from a woman who had read my oooold old JSR fic; she wasn't sure I was the author, but she'd followed me from one site to the next in hopes of keeping tabs on me, and she eventually tracked me down on dA. Now if that's not a loyal fan, I don't know what is; she'd read this awful self-insert story I'd written called Crossing Over, where I and my peers at JSR's FF.net section were transported into JGR and became our OCs, and she had enjoyed it so much that tracking me down had some level of import to her.

I mean - that's fucking cool if you ask me.

Since then I've been on a huge JGR kick - I busted my Dreamcast out and have been playing the shit out of the game, reminiscing about the fandom as I used to know it and how far I've come since I first opened this game on my birthday almost nine years ago. I even have a couple new story ideas that I know I won't pursue - like, how did the Noise Tanks and Poison Jam come into possession of the shards of The Devil's Contract, and why were they hiding them from the GGs? And how did the Love Shockers get ahold of that Golden Rhino pin? It's so tempting to write a story where the three rival gangs are the protagonists and painting the GGs as the antagonists, but I just can't write JSR fic anymore. >_> Then again, I haven't been writing very much at all this summer...

Anyway, my point is, I've been going back and reading a lot of oldfic. Mostly mine, which is pretty much entirely cringe-worthy, but also some of versipellis ' stuff. It was good times...but there's one story I can't find of yours, dear, and I'm going to ask you to email it to me. :D You remember that story you wrote where Gum was blasted into the future and dated an older Yo-Yo? I really hardcore have to read that again.

So, yeah. Bedtime. I'm feeling sufficiently less cranky.

So, it's summer, which means con season is upon us me! ConnectiCon in two weeks (X___X my cosplay is nowhere near done) and AnimeFest at the beginning of September. For CTCon, my buddy Pandy is coming up from Texas, which is sweetness; AnimeFEST is the reverse, though, and I'll be headed down there. So, awesome.

My cosplay if of a Hunter from Left 4 Dead. I got a hoodie for it but it feels a little too small - that's alright, but my biggest concern is the hood not being deep enough to hide my eyes. -_- I'll get an outside opinion on it before committing to buying another one.