So as much as I like this layout, I’m considering trying to work up another one. The problem is time, of course. Unlike some people who can whip up a good looking layout in the matter of an hour, it usually takes me a whole evening of testing and retesting and throwing away before I get it to look like I want.

There’s so many more important things I have to do!

In other news I seem to have lost 3lbs, which is not a large percentage of the weight I could stand to lose but it was apparently an important 3lbs because my jeans do not feel tight anymore. Hurrah. :P

Now I will talk about something that has been disturbing me for most of the week. Dubya, in his infinte wisdom, has proposed financial incentives for women on welfare to get married. First of all, unless he somehow manages to do this by executive order, I am about 99% positive that this will not fly. But the very fact that he thought he could say it! In public! Whores of the state unite!

The very proposition is insulting. First, it assumes that marriage is a preferable state to being single. For many women this is not a clear positive. The kind of men they have contact with — and who would marry them for a handout from the government — are not the sort one should be marrying. Often they are the sort that should be in jail. Second, isn’t marriage supposed to be a sacrament, oh-great-moral leader? It’s not a business arrangement where both parties are bribed by the government! (I’m sure it doesn’t even need to be said that these women would need to be marrying men to get any kind of payoff.) Third, to pay someone to enter into a marriage is a very very short step away from prostitution. Paying men to marry women has a long and checkered tradition in the world, and I really do not think we need revive the custom here. Fourth, what these women need to get off welfare isn’t a man. It’s education and affordable child care. Why should a woman get off welfare if only to flip burgers for $6/hour when that amount is -less- than the amount most babysitters are paid? She’d be in debt the second she left her home. Which, by the way, she couldn’t possibly pay for on top of food, clothing, health care and child care.

So a couple of weeks ago I heard the preposterous rumor that Media Blasters (headed by John “let’s shoot ourselves in the foot” Sirabella) was going to release Level C on VHS only. Now, in this day and age, when the sub VHS market has gone to hell, why a company would do this is beyond me. So I emailed them.

My mail:

Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 14:50:15 -0600 (CST)
From: Kate Butler <mikage@v…….>
To: jsirabella@media-blasters.com
Subject: Level C

Dear Mr. Sirabella,

According to various websites, Media Blasters is releasing Level C next week on subtitled VHS only. (I have not been able to locate any places with a DVD listed.)

So I am writing to express my extreme disappointment with this decision. Media Blasters has had a good track record in the past with acquiring titles to appeal to a general audience. I was surprised last summer to hear that you’d purchased Level C, but glad to see more interest in such a female genre. I trusted that it would be released as all your other recent titles have been — on DVD.

But instead it is being released on sub VHS. VHS is an inferior medium, and as other companies have noted, the fans who buy subtitled versions have moved on to DVD. Your company clearly realizes there is a market — otherwise why purchase the title? — and you’ve already released “Fake” on DVD, as well as “Earthian”. I no longer buy anime on VHS, and I know I’m not the only one.

I will not be purchasing this title on VHS; I can only hope that it appears on DVD later, as I -was- very interested in getting it.

Sincerely,

Kate Butler

And then, their reply. The mind boggles:

Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 18:33:42 -0800 (PST)
From: John Sirabella <jsirabella@yahoo.com>
To: Kate Butler <mikage@v………>
Subject: Re: Level C

Hi Kate,

Be patient we are catching up with all our titles on DVD and I do believe Level C will eventually make it to DVD.

-mb

So there you have it. They’re not releasing Level C on DVD yet because… they haven’t caught up yet? Something doesn’t compute. This is a NEW title. Grr.

So everyone email them and express your opinion. :P

Again a long dry spell.

I’m more inclined to blog when I’m not falling asleep, of course, so perhaps tomorrow will be a good day. So far am sort of keeping up with my schedule of things to do, though only sort of. There are many things I -could- have done but have let slide because they weren’t on a deadline.

In other news, I still haven’t opened those presents yet. Heh. I keep forgetting they’re there.

Goals for tonight: go through mail, order transcripts from UMN, go to bed by 10pm. If feeling really with it, finish a code project.

Goals for week: Do not stay up each night. Finish 2 code projects. Finish 1 web page or application.

Saw the Count of Monte Christo on Friday with Kenpi and E. It was pretty good. The eternal dictum “thou shalt have lousy hair and no fashion sense until thou joinest the dark side” was once again proven. (For other examples see CLAMP.)

Ughh. I am tired. I need to stop staying up so late.

Jen gave this link last night, so I put it here so I remember to check back for Merry.

Let’s see. The apartment is still a huge frigging mess. (But we did get a new filter for the faucet thanks to Okina.) The apps are still undone. (but I did order my GRE scores.) The payment for the cel still hasn’t been sent. (But I paid my car insurance.)

Every night I keep meaning to be productive and accomplish things, but last night I was so tired and it’s really hard to get moving when you’re tired. Or sitting down. Or breathing. :P

Why is it that I only want to do all this stuff while I’m at work or driving in the car? It’s really annoying. And just to show how completely lazy and utterly apathetic I’ve been, on Saturday I got 2 Christmas presents that had been sent to my mom’s house and I still have not opened them. Yes, that’s right folks, I am too lazy to get off my butt and OPEN A PRESENT.

Clearly something needs to be fixed here.

Kentarou, baby! In an apron!

So I had to trek down to Wellesley today to talk to a prof about a recommendation. Since I had to pass near it on the way, I picked up the package that we missed while our doorbell was broken. Since I was leaving work early, I was figuring that I’d have to go to the post office tomorrow during lunch to pick up an IPMO to pay for the cel.

I am sure some of you have caught the mistake by now, but let me just outline my thought processes as I started the car to leave work.

*so first pick up the package, and then out to Wellesley*
*I’ll be able to go to the post office tomororw*
*wait*
*the package is AT THE POST OFFICE*
*duh*

Anyway, I got down to Wellesley and poked around there for a while. Got some of those car decals for my mom ’cause she wanted one. Talked to the prof and looked at all the new computers they got there (wow.. they have a room with those skinny flat panel monitors) and then went out to pick up some dinner at Olive Garden. Spent a while in B&N and then came back.

I just have no words:

JUNE — NEW � AFGHANISTAN: d20
INTRODUCING HDI�s NEW GAMING LINE: REAL LIFE ROLEPLAYING (RLR)
The first in our new RLR line, Afghanistan: d20 is a stand alone game supplement providing rules, background, equipment, settings and scenarios that give players a chance to roleplay in the war against terrorism. Now you and your friends can organize Northern Alliance operatives, track down terrorists, outwit the al Qaeda and wipe the floor with Osama! (Requires the use of the Dungeons and Dragons� Players Handbook, Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast�. ‘d20 System’ and d20 System logo are Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast� and are used with permission. Dungeons & Dragons� and Wizards of the Coast� are Registered Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, and are used with permission.)
#801, ISBN: 1-888906-89-8, $20.00

My results for the Harry Potter couple selector:

# 1 Sirius x Lupin
# 2 Draco x Harry
# 3 Harry x Ron
# 4 Harry x Hermione
# 5 Lily x James

Not like I was trying to get that.. really..

At least I did it without having to go back and fiddle or guessing. ^_^

Bah. Never did get to update that last time. Blogger was not being fun.

Anyway…

Saw Gosford Park yesterday. I liked it. The comment was made that there was too much time spent before the murder and not enough after, but I think it was pretty well portioned out. There were so many characters that you really wanted to have -some- kind of handle on them all before it happened, or the movie would turn into an Agatha Christie, where the bulk of the book is spent interviewing suspects after the fact. And that isn’t a very interesting movie, even if it is kind of a good read. Besides which, I don’t think the murder was really the point. It was pretty incidental to most of the characters. So if you’re looking for a murder mystery/detective story, this isn’t going to please you, but otherwise it was quite good.

On the way home Okina and I were listening to the radio and heard several weird songs. So I present today a new list, called “Teenage Tragedy Songs”.

def. Teenage Tragedy Song: A song in which a pair (or group) of teenagers is struck by tragedy (usually the death of boyfriend/girlfriend).

Right now I only have three songs on my list, but contribute more if you know them.

1. Leader of the Pack (1964, the Shangri-Las):

Cheerleader-type goes out with bad boy biker dude who then is killed in an accident. Definitely the standard here, and probably the most well known overall, at least until a couple of years ago.

2. Last Kiss (1964, J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers):

Teenagers out on a drive have an accident and the girl is mortally injured. The boy holds her corpse and sings about it. I heard this song on the radio a lot before I actually listened to the lyrics one day and nearly choked. Pearl Jam remade this song a few years ago.

3. Run Joey Run:

Girl’s father finds out his daughter isn’t such a nice girl after all and goes on a shooting spree. Girl gets in the way. Dies.

Cheerful.

Not much has been going on and the ISP has been being really irritating, so no updates for a while. Actually, not much is kind of a lie. I’ve actually been really busy, but none of it seems interesting enough to talk about.

And of course, blogger is not cooperating so I can’t even publish this when I want to. Grr.

So this weekend has been strangely busy. Jen was up from far away and so there was lots to do with her. Friday we went to an Ethiopian restaurant and from there to the movies to see Kate & Leopold [supermini-review: 6/10. It was cute. Meg Ryan did look pretty old. Hugh Jackman didn't take off his shirt. As I said after, if it had been anime, she would have simply learned a lesson in the end and I would have been pissed like I was at the end of Esca.]. Saturday we were going to go tubing, but there wasn’t enough snow, so the place wasn’t open. We all treked out to the mall instead and visited Best Buy and Toys R Us and various other stores. Went to dinner at Chilis. Stayed up waaay too late watching yaoi anime and Dogma. Sunday I slept really late and then stayed up the entire night doing some stuff. Monday I slept late also and again stayed up way too late. Tuesday we went all the way down to Providence to see Beauty and the Beast on IMAX. Yay! I’ve been looking forward to seeing this since last summer, and I wasn’t disappointed. I purposely hadn’t watched the movie in a long while, so it was fresh for me. There were a lot of new little added bits along with the lengthy “Human Again” sequence. I think I’ll need to watch it a few more times with that sequence in it for it to not feel jarring — I’ve been used to it flowing a certain way for 10 years now, and it’s a little hard to change my feelings all at once. But it was pretty good. I felt that the animation tried to turn the song, which is rather adult, into more of a kiddy show, though, which I didn’t much like. B&B on the whole is a pretty adult movie. Gaston is intimidating in a very sexual way.