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I just found out that my bird Iris died last night. We'd had her since I was in elementary school. No idea quite how old she was, at least 15 years though. She was quite the character. My mom called her a Lab in the form of a bird: always hungry, always wanting to be on someone's shoulder. She could be rather loud at times and really was ridiculous (she used to walk around on the ground, go up to Shadow, our Lab in teh form of a Lab, and hiss at him, even though she was the only who went over to him...she would also go over to the brick fireplace and eat it...and we discovered that birds must be able to see colour, because she only ate the red power button the VCR remote...she also did quite the number on the cord for the powerpack of my old school, original Gameboy).

For a good number of years she had a companion, Woody...but he died some time ago. It was really sad afterwards though, because they would often call to each other from different rooms and now Iris would still call to him but obviously he couldn't answer.

So yeah...pretty down about this, even though she had a good life, decently-long for a cockatiel (I've seen a few different age expectancies, generally anywhere from 15-25 years, and she was definitely somewhere in there). Much longer than the other birds we had (don't know how Woody was and my first bird, Chris, died when he was only one from illness). She actually had gone blind in one eye, which made flying a bit difficult...she flew into a few walls and other things that I noticed, so generally was staying in her cage a lot more.

RIP Iris.

(no subject)

So, I've been on a downloading spree for anime, checking out a whole bunch of new series: Honey & Clover, Candidate for Goddess OVA (this one is pretty much only because of my Lark PB), xxxHolic, Princess Princess, and Ouran Host Club. I plan to watch the first episodes of all of them, see if I like them, and then play catch up until I reach the current point it's at in Japan (except of course for Honey & Clover, which is finished).

So I just watched xxxHolic vol 1. It seems interesting enough, I've actually read the first half of the first manga (at the anime club's manga night) and thought it was really good. I also have read vol 1 of Tsubasa, and thus am sad that the anime of xxxHolic has eliminated the crossover, though I suppose it does make sense, since it wasn't made at the same time as the Tsubasa anime.

I really don't like the opening much, so when I watch more, I'll be skipping that. It's just rather boring and the song isn't that great I don't think. Also the character design for Watanuki is a bit...odd. His arms and legs are just far too long and his head is too small...I think he looks like a daddy longlegs XD But I knew that the animation wasn't supposed to be the greatest going in (and if I can enjoy things like Fushigi Yuugi and Sailor Moon...then I know I can get past that XD). Yuuko's two helpers (Maru and Moro?) are also getting on my nerves. So I am suspecting that this will not be the first of the series that I watch. But I do want to watch more of it because it does sound interesting. And I definitely intend to read the manga more.

One thing however that I did rather like was the decision to have random passersby be pretty much outlines, rather than detail. It's a really interesting look.

Oh, and Yuuko does rock!

All and all I'm really not that impressed with the CLAMP anime, with X-TV being the exception because OMG I LOVES IT! I can't stand Chobits, Tokyo Babylon is okay but should have been made later, when they could have actually done the ending, I haven't heard the most wonderful things about Tsubasa, since apparently it deviates quite a bit from the manga (though of course, that's the problem with any anime made before a manga is finished...so it's probably true in the case of xxxHolic too). But I will give this a shot. At least I haven't read the manga so it might come off better than it is XD

Also, apparently NANA has been slated for 50 episodes at the moment. Which is pretty long, but since the manga is long and still going, it does make sense. I still hold out hope that the manga may finish before the anime, and thus the anime won't have to make stuff up.

(no subject)

Spam, spam, spam XD Since I don't work until 3, I have been able to watch the first episode of Princess Princess.

OMG the wonderful cracktasticness of it all. It's beautiful XD Also it does look like there are a few mysterious pasts to work out, so there's possibility for interesting plot as well, which is good because it's hard to make crack last.

Also fun with spot the seiyuu, the guy who voices Kouno is also Watanuki in xxxHolic XD And Albert in Gankutsuou (omg, I actually spelled it right without checking first, yay!). And the woman who voices Shihoudani is Ken in Digimon, Ed in FMA (I hadn't realized the same person did those voices...or that they were both voiced by a woman), and Nana Osaki in NANA. AWESOME. Sakamoto's seiyuu is also Daimon in Digimon Savers. I knew I recognized some voices XD

It's a small seiyuu world.

Not sure if I'm going to have time for the Candidate for Goddess OVA...probably not. Still waiting on Ouran and Honey & Clover to finish downloading though, so I can't move on to those.

Hey, Margaret, while you're in Riverview, can you see if Sam has any updates about taking care of Doug's cat? Also...oops, we forgot to send the TV remote with Kate's TV =P

(no subject)

So, Host Club ended up downloading in time for me to watch it.

Now, I will admit, because of all the hype I've heard about it, plus a few people whose opinions I usually do not agree with liking it, that I went at this series probably more critical than I would with others. That's what hype has always done for me...it's similar to what Summer posted about the other day, about hype making anti-fans. While I certainly don't go that extreme, the more hype something has, the harder I will be on it in general. This doesn't mean I won't enjoy it, it just means that it will take more for it to do it for me, if I look at it at all (often I just avoid the hyped things, like what I did with HP for a long time...and it took PoA's awesomeness to win me over at that).

Anyway, despite this criticalness, I did actually enjoy the episode quite a bit. It was not quite what I expected. It seems that genderbending is a trend today XD This one is not quite as cracktastic as Princess Princess, but it does have that certain insane appeal which is good. I also would like to note that I'm glad the twins aren't always talking in unison, since that was what was driving me a bit crazy with xxxHolic's helper girls earlier.

I also particularily liked Haruhi's very played-down views on gender, that is very cool.

So yeah, I don't think it's the greatest thing ever, at least not yet, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Now I am trying to figure out how to get the Blood+ torrent, since missdeep keeps going on about it so I think I would like to check it out, seeing as she's one of the people whose opinions on such things I respect and stuff, unlike the afforementioned fans who make me avoid things. Honey & Clover is still going, since it's the full series. I think I might start ep 2 torrents for all the other series I have watched today, but probably not until after work, since I should start getting ready for that now.

(no subject)

And my first volume reviewing continues with Blood+. I don't have as much to say about this yet, except that it's intriguing...plus it's fun to spot the infamous David (and I think the equally infamous Julia was in there too, the nurse?).

It looks a bit more actiony than is the norm of the anime I watch, but interesting enough that it's good action.

Evil ending place though. Gah.

Debating what to do now. I could watch Candidate for Goddess or xxxHolic 2, or I could just sleep. Decisions, decisions...

(no subject)

So, as I had rather expected, the Candidate for Goddess OVA was rather meh. But the entire series seems that way. Of course, mech isn't really my thing...but I did expect more since the mangaka is also the creator of DNAngel (which I also need to watch some time...but we'll wait for Margaret and I to finish Sailor Moon Classic first, I think).

And now, I sleep...or at least I probably should.