Exclusive Insanity

So I finally got around to picking a new host for my website. I just changed the DNS settings on my domain name, so it won't be visible for 24-48 hours but that's okay because all I'm planning to put up is a placeholder page. I'll be doing a bit of a redesign - I don't really like the side frame on the page I have now, and I'm kind of sick of the blue color too. I have a couple of ideas in mind for changes.

It shouldn't take me too long, though; maybe I'll even be done by the time the site is visible. I'm not sure if anyone actually missed it, but I'll feel better when my fanfic and stories are back up in one place where people can find and read them if they want.

Plus, I have to get the UPS screenshot site back up. I don't think many people visit it, but it was one of the few UPS resources online so I'd like to keep it up.

A huge thank you to everyone who recced me some good anime series yesterday in response to my post! If you can think of more you want to pimp at me, please feel free to let me know. I promise I'll watch at least the first episode.

So far, here is what all I have on my list:

1. Seirei no Moribito
2. Saiunkoku Monogatari
3. Toshokan Senshou
4. Vampire Knight
5. Code Geass
6. Rozen Maiden
7. Kamichu
8. Denno Coil
9. Hellsing Ultimate
10. Tantei Gakuen Q
11. Ayatsuri Sakon
12. Jyu Oh Sei
13. Baccano!
14. Eyeshield 21

I've watched the first episodes for Seirei no Moribito and Tantei Gakuen Q so far... and I intend to try the others as well, but I was highly impressed with those two and do plan to continue with them.

If I wasn't at work right now, I'd already be going through more of these - I'm looking forward to them all! We'll see how many I end up following all the way through.

So, I saw Prince Caspian last night.

...

......

( Thoughts (spoilerish) )

In other news, I bought a box set of Fruits Basket, and I'm in the process of rewatching it. I love that series. I love it even more now that I've read the end of the manga. Hehe.

I also have my box set of Escaflowne and have been watching that. Now that is a good series! I think the fact that it lost 13 episodes and had to squeeze the story into the rest worked in its favor. Each episode moves so quickly! I love it.

I also watched the first episode of Tactics. I'm not sure if I like it yet. I'll have to give it a couple more episodes and see.

Also, Cody and I bought a new sound system. We're working on trying to get it set up. Apparently we need to buy an additional cable. Hopefully we can get it working tonight after work.

Ganked from lycoris, just because.

What 5 series/books/movies can you rewatch/reread time and again?

( Cut! )

I saw Ironman last night with Cody and Tylor and Sarah. Speaking as someone who has never heard of the comic until the movie came out, I can honestly say that it was an entertaining watch. Totally testosterone-fueled and similar to nearly every action movie on the face of the planet in that no female character really did anything of note or managed to be anything beyond a support character. But still pretty decent.

I thought I was working 8-4 today but I was working 6:30 - 2:30. I would've got six hours of sleep last night but I kept waking up with stomach pains because I was full before I went to bed and it hadn't digested at all. At 2:30am I was up for an hour to walk it off.

Consequently, I feel like I haven't slept at all. This is going to be a fun shift...

Well, I just made an 'Anime Reviews' section in my Memories, so I decided I'd do yet another review that I've been meaning to for a while.

( Ghost Hunt: Scary Stories in Animated Form (and yes, most of them are actually scary) )

I recommend this series for anyone who likes ghost stories, mysteries, and good anime with fun characters. It was a really good show. I'm hoping like hell for a second season. And a third. And so on. This one could go on for a while, and I'd still love it.

The first opening video can be found here. There's not much difference in the second video. I really like the creepy song, but the video doesn't tell you anything about the series (except that it's kinda creepy - and somehow the song really fits the ghost hunting theme).

On a completely unrelated note, I absolutely adore this song I'm listening to. It plays during the very last moments of the very last Kaleido Star OVA (Legend of Phoenix), and it's beautiful.

Been a while since I updated... I've just been lazy, really.

I haven't been lazy about my anime viewing, though - and here's another one of those reviews to prove it. This time for an anime I haven't actually finished yet. I usually don't do that, but I felt like it this time.

( Kaleido Star )

I watched ten episodes in one day for this series... That should tell you something about how much I liked it. I intend to watch more of it on my day off tomorrow, too. Maybe I'll even finish the series off.

Openings themes can be found here: the first half of season one, the second half of season one, and season two.

Funimation licensed Ghost Hunt!?!?!?!?!?

Fuck. That means no box set for it either.

Goddamnit! I hate Funimation and their lack of neat compact little box sets! Don't they know my shelf space is limited?

Icon Meme - ganked from cats_eye

( Icons Under Cut )

I have an issue with Funimation.

I've recently become a sort of collector of anime sets - I like to buy box sets of anime I like on DVD. ADV is my favorite for this because they make those nice thinpak sets. Other companies have made similar, neat little sets that I can store easily and use for access to all of my favorite episodes in any particular series.

Funimation has been pissing me off recently because they don't seem to understand the concept of 'compact'. They released four box sets for Fullmetal Alchemist, which would basically take up about three quarters of the space that the complete set of DVDs takes up. It could have easily been just one or two box sets instead, because FMA is not that huge of a series. I suspect Funimation just likes the idea of squeezing as much money as they can from the many, many fans of this series more than providing convenience for those of us who don't have much shelf space.

Two other series I really would like to purchase, Mushishi and Utawarerumono, have been fully released on DVD (with cardboard "artboxes" included at ridiculous extra costs) by Funimation, but no box sets have been listed yet. I'm starting to think there won't be any, and this pisses me off to the point where I don't even want to buy the series from them. And now Funimation is releasing Shuffle, to which I respond with 'goddamnit!' because that means I won't get a neat little box set for it either.

It isn't about saving money. I'd gladly pay the same amount for the box set that I would for the whole set of DVDs. It's about convenience. I collect box sets, not individual DVDs, because the less space the series takes up on my shelf, the more I have for other series.

I like to support the official licensors of anime (that way they'll bring more anime over), but I'm at the point of looking for bootleg sets of the sub/dub for Funimation's series because they fail so utterly at providing me with what I want.