Happier Holidays

I'm a legal adult! *blink, blink* And I got accepted into my first-choice college! *screams*

By this time it might as well already be Christmas, especially when my birthday present is always a "sneak peak" into what Santa gave me. This might be the only positive outlook I ever adopted. XD As a bonus I have no worries about applying to other schools and the nightmare of waiting. I was mentally getting off track for a while.

Depressed no longer is the Fangirl of earlier this month. The doom and gloom and cynicism that bleed profusely has been stopped... for now. I dunno what I'm talking about now. Haha!

My vacation started off today with me waking up at noon - which happens rarely. Then after spending alone time for myself, me, my mom, and some friends saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I always wanted to read the book, but thanks to summer reading I did not have the chance to pick it up. After watching it though, my mom said the movie stayed loyal to the book. I figure I'll pick it up someday, as well as watch the Swedish version.

Kind of like with Sucker Punch, I was so impressed with the music that I bought the soundtrack. The opening sequence - though very different from the rest of the film - is pure platinum. The video below only shows about 20% of what's going on. When it played in the theaters though... damn. 0.O

I might squeeze in one last entry before the new year... a top 10-ish list. Big emphasis on "-ish" though.

And to be a good sport, here's another Christmas song. On the bright side, it's not as oppressive as most! :D

Happy Holidays!!! :D

Christmas Creativity at Its Finest

It's five days before the biggest commercial holiday of the year arrives, and I am still not in the proper spirit. Maybe it's because Todd in the Shadows said it best in his most recent review: "No genre is more stagnant, more overdone, more strangling-ly oppressive [than Christmas music]." There are so many times I can hear "White Christmas," "Deck the Halls," "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" before a good portion of my brain implodes.

And don't get me started on "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." Once the song begins, I black out for a time and wake up to see my entire neighborhood drenched in blood. Wait... no... The neighborhood is buried in shredded wrapping paper! ... Looks like the damage is done... >.<

Yet there are cynics in the world who do understand the pain some of us face during the most manipulative time of the year.

Found: http://xkcd.com/988/

Merry Christmas, everyone! Remember to be at least 0.00000001% less selfish and commercial this year! ^_^

And as a bonus, I'll share the love from the great pop music reviewer himself:

Owned by ToddintheShadows

SOPA Will Not Pass!

I've censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet--a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/9110/uncensor

"Hey ████████! The ████████ is now ████ ████ ██████████! █████!! ████ and ███████ IP ████ not ████! Yay!" ... I ████ I can say ████ ████...

2012 Is Going to Suck

[Update of the Update: Now the Amazing Atheist's video is back up. Huh... wonder what that was about...]


[Update: I just love it when a Youtube video is deleted due to it's "scam, spam, and deceptive content." Sure, the Amazing Atheist can be a huge jerk but he called out Perry for HIS spam of a "political campaign ad." Irony is so lovely.]

I just cannot wait to get my card punched so can freely complain about morons in American politics. Too bad the presidential is terrifying.

There's very little I can say because these guys hit the nail on the head except this: may the superior being(s), whether he/she/it/they is or are a deity, group of deities, or fate itself, not let 2012 suck. My sanity - and many others - depends upon it.








Not afraid to admit being a Christian? War on religion? Gays openly serving in the military? Kids not celebrating Christmas? Liberal attacks on religious heritage?! Faith brought America together?!

If this is the best the right can do to convince me to vote for them, then I rather live the rest of my days as a shut-in. Looks like I'll be an Independent at this rate.

My Halloween Christmas Gift

I've been pretty bad with adding pictures of my tiny planet. Gomenasai. But here it finally is!

It's about time I remembered to post up my "Halloween" outfit. I figured it was going to be cold, so I added the poncho. Even when trick-or-treating was cancelled for me and my buds, I still wore it.

This is the corset my mom bought for me at the Renaissance Fair, and I love it so much. With it being hand-made and in good quality, I try not to wear it often. But it helped me realize how much I abuse my own back. @_@

(It laces up in the front and back.)

As a bonus, I finished this picture for art class a while back. It was a pain in the arse and took many hours to complete.

December 2011 Update

I am the Fangirl who don't do anything. I just stay at home and lie around. And if you ask me to do anything, I'll just tell you "I don't do anything!"

...except complain.

As if my growing apathy and contempt for the stupidity of humanity weren't big enough buzz kills, anxiety is contributing to the destruction of my hopes of being in the Christmas spirit. The usual drama every senior faces in December. I'm trying very hard to not curl up in a ball, cry, and eat ice cream as I sit by my mailbox.

That's my life in a nutshell at the moment.

Though my spamming my blog with Sonic helped me to relieve some stress. For the longest time I was a closeted fan unwilling to admit how it is a fun, nostalgic part of my childhood. And after spending a lot of time revisiting and catching up... I'm almost thankful that I stayed stuck in the early 2000's. I always knew the fanbase was kinda whacky and chaotic, but now... *shudders* I was happy keeping my opinions to myself!

And with this being the end of the year, I have to do something... special. It's bad enough with rants against evil corporations and other boring crap from the past few months. What to do what to do. Hmm...

Why Avoid 4Kids' English Dub of Sonic X?

Because you will want to kill yourself.

I would have loved to have gone into tons of detail on this, but I would have never completed my review of the show. The extreme cases can best be noticed visually. However, there are several that go deeper than that. So from the hilarious and obvious, the confusing and silly, and the insulting, I present a fraction of what you will endure in the English version of Sonic X. I wish I could have found so much more in a more organized fashion, but 4Kids has a tendency to delete anything "copyrighted."

Exhibit A: Imagery

1:04 - Good kids won't study or try this at home.

1:11 - You mean I'm not a good kid?

1:37 - G.U.N. stands for "Guardian Union of Nations" *facepalm* RESEARCH!!

1:47 - Egg Emperor Eggman Robo E-99

Exhibit B: Death

Admittedly, this might show my bias towards Shadow, but this is one of the biggest contrasts between the Japanese and English versions. Maria was essential to the whole plot of Sonic Adventure 2. Her death is the reason the whole story even unfolded and why Shadow is deemed an "emo" by the general public! Thanks, 4Kids!

In my defense, however, this is a universal problem in all of the other shows. One Piece took the brunt of it head-on. But I digress...

Yes! Maria never died! She was NEVER shot and killed! The whole revenge plot was just a silly, whiny, overdramatic bitch fest over being "taken away" by the boogeyman! Remember: death does not exist, kids!

The English version starts at about 5:00 just in case not understanding Japanese just hurts. Basically though, Molly is killed and Shadow avenges her. After they built her grave, Rouge asks Shadow if he reacted so strongly because Molly reminded him of Maria. He, however, denies this.

"She's off on another adventure." That's a load of crap. "Well, yeah I liked her. She's a good kid." Since when did Jason Griffith portray his half-jackass and half-crybaby Shadow as being open and honest?! And after that stupid edit?! CONSISTENCY!!!!! *rapidly beats head against laptop*

Exhibit C: Voice Acting and Dialogue

If the earlier clips didn't make your ears bleed, then you are made of steel. Otherwise, enjoy more!

At least this was reasonable...

The corny jokes... the emotion (or lack there of)... *groans*
And yes. This is one of the least annoying ones...

must... resist... urge... to... harm... Jason Griffith... *brain explodes*

Exhibit D: Deleted Scenes

4Kids must nitpick over every silly joke.

OH NO! IT'S X-RATED! DELETE, DELETE!!!!!

=_='

If they had such a problem with a bit of a girl's daydream, I'd love to see 4Kids take a stab at an anime romantic comedy...

Vector trying [and failing] in his plans to get two characters together. Don't we all do that to our friends with their silly crushes? So why get rid of it in this show? Are you allergic to romance or something?!

And the Finale:

The sub-dub comparison starts at about 7:30.

Sonic X was not as butchered as other anime 4Kids picked up, but every single one suffered from some form of stupid edits and censors that can annoy. You might argue that these shows are meant for kids; HOWEVER, that is not true for their original Japanese versions. It's one thing to make some changes for cultural reasons. Japan is known to let sexual tension, blood, and violence slide (heck, Rouge made an S&M joke at one point.) But to completely deconstruct beyond recognition is too much. To change names, alter plot details, emphasize words awkwardly, add different music, and remove emotion in dramatic moments...

I think you get the idea.

Here are other examples of mentioned edits from various shows 4Kids picked up.

2:09-2:22 - they are ONIGIRI!! Rice balls wrapped in nori seaweed and dried, salty umeboshi plums!! NOT JELLY DONUTS!

2:25-4:07 - "We're friends... I guess I'll shoot... but I'll be sad...ish" :'(

4:08-6:33 - "I CAN'T KILL YOU! I LOVE YOU!!" TT-TT

6:43 - Jason Griffith... singing? ZOMFG, NO!! MOMMY, MAKE IT STOP!! TT.TT *shoots self*

7:40 - Dan Green!! No! Save yourself from this humiliation!!

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Looks like I should stop beating the ashes of the corpse of a dead horse. If you were able to put up with me this whole time, I will love you forever. ^_^