eveninghawk’s links

I have finished watching the OVA for Rurouni Kenshin, and watched the movie. I like the idea that this sequel is really a prequel, “finishing” some really interesting historical (for the character) information, and giving more complete character to a really exciting guy.

Finishing up with the movie was a good bonus for me, partly because it’s very pretty high quality animation.

Best of all, the whole thing leaves me with a real curiosity for how interesting Kawakami Gensai was, as he was the basis for the character Himura Kenshin.

I have been through my normal round of comics reading, and from the last two weeks I feel that this scary go round post is of particular amusement.

Mind you, the idea of evil (yet silly) Portuguese man-o-wars plotting to take over the world is already quite amusing, and the idea of Shelly trying to stop them… well… hilarity is almost ensured. Still, I like what is going on in this particular 007-esque post.

When I miss China, it always helps to eat something i would snack on when I was there.

I love citrus fruits. Oranges grapefruit really make me happy, but tangerines are a little too sweet. If you know Chinese medicine, things are usually separated into things that raise your internal heat, and things that lower your internal heat. This isn’t the same a temperature or spiciness, but there is some carry over.

Things that raise your internal heat can give you problems like a fever, acne, smelly sweat, infections, phlegm, and other problems like a scratchy throat or bloating. Why? When the body has too much heat energy it will then try to get rid of it.

What raises heat? Anything with lots of oil, so most meats, and many things that have a strong flavour, high caffeine, etc. Most citrus lowers heat, but not all of it is reducing enough. What is a girl with high internal heat and vitamin C craving to do? Well, pomelos and grapefruits are considered “cold” fruits.

Even beyond the whole idea of heat inducing and heat reducing foods, I really like them. They’re yummy and like massively oversized pear-shaped grapefruits. If my local grocery has them, they must be available at an awful lot of places. Unlike citrus, you can’t eat the skin surrounding the sections, it’s too tough, but the pulpy stuff inside the segments stays together much better than in an orange, so it’s a pretty clean snack.

Or at least this classy monkey does. While this comic is on hiatus until December, I think there are many fun moments going on there worth checking out.

I have had the chance to watch the first disc of Rouroni Kenshin Samurai X. The style departs from the original series to something more serious and in some ways darker. I like the focus of the story and the cross of history with fiction. There’s not too much for me to say except that I am drawn to interesting tales of mysterious swordsmen.

I did have a good reminder as I watched the dvd: the wonder of dvd is that the viewer can fiddle with language/subtitle settings. I still find myself confused and thrown by the language choice and voice talent choice for anime dubbing. The text is different from the subtitles, and seems to miss some of the subtleties. I may sound like a purist, because I know how annoying it can be to be distracted by reading subtitles, but I have run into this with all the languages I am capable of. Hollywood movies sound a bit absurd in their Spanish dubbing, and they sound equally strange with Chinese dubbing. Chinese movies sound abysmal dubbed into English, and much of the linguistic nuances are lost.

I imagine the same thing happens in trying to translate Shakespeare, for example. There are so many subtleties to the language that have to be tossed out the window for the sake of economy.

So I will state my bias right here: I don’t like it. I want the original “feel” with a key to try and gain my own insight and understanding. Then from there I have more of a chance to make sense of things for myself.

I started watching Get Backers on Anime Network’s On Demand selection, but I’ve tagged that onto my Netflix rental list, because I think I would be more excited by the original voices, and once I get my hands on the dvds I can try that out.