I just felt like writing something, but I wasn't exactly sure what. So, I guess I could start with a thought I was having. It's do with the fact that it's often my more emotive or personal posts that get comments. My more academic ones often pass under the radar. So, to make this fun, I will now include a representation of a kitten.
There. Hopefully that will increase the amount of comments. (Her name's Jishino, in case you're interested. Anyone who can figure out why gets a cybercookie.)

Another thing I wanted to write about is my recent fascination with anime. Being half-Japanese, I have always been at least slightly interested in this field, but recently something I'm not entirely sure of (probably extreme boredom) has pushed me to watch a string of anime-series.

It started off a while ago with Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now, now - I know what you're going to say. ...Oh. Well, I thought I knew what you were gonna say. Anyway - Avatar is criticised by hardcore anime-fans (referred to from hereon in as 'otaku's, a Japanese word meaning, more or less, 'nerd', which has found meaning in English as anyone with detailed knowledge of anime and/or manga) as not actually being anime, and I can see where they're coming from. One of my otaku friends dislikes Avatar, purportedly because of said fact.

...Aaaand now that I've used the term otaku, I have to post this YouTube video, for obvious reasons. (I've only just worked out how to post audiovisual material so please don't hit me.)

Seriously - MC Frontalot rocks your socks. Or he will, as soon as you listen to his work. That is, if you're a nerd. If you're not, you'll probably just think I'm incredibly sad. Or you might already.

Alright, back to the topic. So, why do I love Avatar? Weeell, it actually started off with a crush on the lead female, Katara. As in, a fictional character. A certain reader (you know who you are) will probably make a disparaging remark at this point.

Anyways, that's beside the point. After that came, oddly enough, Azumangah Daioh. I came across it one extremely boring evening whilst searching YouTube for mudkips (don't ask), the link between them being AMV Hell and its various movies. Said anime is rather girly, one has to admit, but then I've never really been one for machoness. Dear mater says I have a 'lollita complex', which is very possibly true. If you're scratching your head at this point, you can probably find it somewhere on Wikipedia. (Ah, how I love Wikipedia.)

After that came The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I felt obliged to watch it because it had been so thoroughly endorsed by one of my otaku friends (no, not that one - another one) after I mentioned that I'd just finished Azumangah and needed a new anime. Seriously, it's like a drugs habit - if you don't have an anime you can fall back on and watch at any time you start to feel badly jittery.

Suzumiya was good enough to keep me entertained for perhaps two weeks or so, if that (only thirteen episodes? HA!), but I felt that the absolute best was Episode 12. It was the most 'real' episode of them all, and knocked me into a profound reverie for most of dinner. It takes quite a bit to do that - dinner is awesome!

I suppose it was only natural that, after those previous two, I should then progress onto Lucky Star - an anime that makes plenty of references to Suzumiya, as well as Keroro Gunsou (Sergeant Frog, to you English types, which I have seen quite a bit of) and many others that I haven't seen.

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...-Sorry, I forgot I was writing a 'blog. Uh... yeah. Anyways, I just wanted to alert everyone to the fact that I have now finished watching Lucky Star and am in need of a new series to rely on.

The reason I got distracted for so long was this AWESOME website:

http://onceuponawin.com

I cannot possibly overstate how excellent said website is.

Anyways - toodles, chaps and chappettes.