Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

I do the strangest things sometimes. XD I went to watch a Princess Tutu AMV that someone made, and then I saw a link for another one using One Sweet Day. I love that song, so then I looked to see what other AMVs there were with it. I found one for Full Moon wo Sagashite, and after I watched it, I noticed that it was a response to the final episode, which had been posted. And even though I've never seen the show, I know about it, and I've badly wanted to know how it ended up, so I watched the episode!

I don't regret it either. It was absolutely beautiful! Not what I was expecting at all. And now I must watch the whole series/read the manga. X3 It looks like there was a lot of character development along the way, so I'll love that.

I've also been watching some more Tsubasa Chronicle and Holic here and there. I love them! Tsubasa has lots of cuteness, and Holic is so nicely gothic and dark. And there's cuteness in it, too, like in episode 7, which Aubrie shared with me this morning.

This past week I rewatched all of season 1 of Magic Knight Rayearth. That's such a great anime. I just love how you're led to believe that everything's cookie-cutter clear, and suddenly everything changes and you realize that nothing is what it seems. I really think it's another of CLAMP's best, and sadly underappreciated.

This morning I also downloaded some music. Tank! again, even though I have it on a disc somewhere, and I thought how cool an AMV would be that would feature the Black Org and the Tank! song. X3 Then I got some Tsubasa Chronicle songs: the full versions of Blaze and Loop, and two alternate versions of the Tsubasa song: a Sakura version and a duet version with Syaoran. So pretty.

And I watched episode 2 of Capsule Monsters on Fox. The deleted scenes from that segment were put in the broadcast version, as promised! I really do enjoy that little mini-arc. As Lizzie put it, it's like visiting with old friends. I love all the YGO characters, but it's just really nice to spend time with the original four again. They often get lost in the shuffle. And every now and then, I like a little break from the "save the world" plot. XD

I honestly don't see why so many people complain about the animation style of Capsule Monsters and the movie. I don't see anything wrong with it, and to me, it looks a lot prettier than say, the animation during the Pharaoh's Memory arc. XD;

Oh yeah, yesterday I was finally able to piece together a plot for the third part of the Ghosts trilogy. ^^ I got the first chapter up. I'm calling it No Way Out. It was inspired by the Peter Gabriel song, naturally.

I've been working on the next chapter of Breakdown, too. Right now I'm at the second flashback. I'm not sure if I'll be able to write any more of it tonight, though. XD; I have the urge to write a dark poem. Marija will be thrilled.

Last week I found a couple of Darkwing Duck episodes on YouTube: Hot Spells, which is on crack. XD It's the DWD version of Faust, and if Harry Potter had existed then, I would have said that the episode was parodying it as well. They were at a school for learning magic, so that Morgana could do a presentation. I did like how they said that magic was not easy and that you had to do lots of calculations to do it right.

They also had Time and Punishment, which I haven't watched since it originally aired. It was always one of my favorites. Very dark, too. It shows an alternate future where Darkwing is erring too much to the right. XD Dark Warrior Duck! He doesn't realize Gosalyn accidentally went with Megavolt and Quackerjack on their time machine in the past, and he thinks Gosalyn ran away because he wouldn't let her help.

Last week I learned that Claude and Dagronrat think my pictures of Gin make him look androgynous. .___. I went and looked over them all very carefully, and I don't see it. The only one that I could think possibly looks that way is the one where he has the sheet around his waist, but even then, shouldn't his chest and muscles say otherwise? XD; **just doesn't get it.** I draw him in my own style, same as for any anime character, but I think I make him look masculine.

I found a music video the other day using Princess Tutu and the Amazon Trio's theme, so that made me wanna get that song. XD I used to have it years ago, but had to delete it during a space purging. So I went to sailormusic.net and downloaded the SuperS soundtrack, but it's in OGG format because the site owner feels that MP3s are trash. Then I had to download a codec to play the songs in Windows Media Player. Now I have to delete most of them for space, keeping only the ones that I like extremely well, such as the one I'm playing right now. I love it so much. ^^ I think of it as the Amazon Trio's Redemption song. This soundtrack doesn't have the Lemures song, though, which I think was the actual name of the one I had before. But it does have a couple of tracks with the Amazon theme music.

The Amazon Trio are some of my favorite antagonists from the show. I don't really like the Quartet, as child villains have never appealed to me, but the Trio is great. XD And I love the AMV someone did where they sing I Feel Pretty. I knew there had to be something like that out there. It's too perfect for Fisheye. And now every time I hear the musical version of that song, I think of them (whereas with the Adam Sandler version, I will forever think of Gin).

YouTube had to get rid of Detective Conan stuff because of problems with the Japanese copyright holders. I can understand taking down episodes, but I think they should have left AMVs alone. Now I'm trying to get back a couple that I especially liked, without much luck. I contacted the person who had the Gin I Feel Pretty parody up, because she said she'd accept all Friends requests so that people could view the DC videos she had that had been made private, but she hasn't accepted me yet.

I went looking on eBay for cheap DC DVDs, and then asked Lisa if she knew of good websites that have them. She recommended two. One only had the American releases, but the other, http://www.meganimedvd.com , has the stuff I want, that hasn't been released in America yet. Oh yes. And the prices are wonderful. Once Wells Fargo's website stops having a hiccup, I'm going to order a couple of the movies, definitely 5, and probably 8. I wish the TV Special that is probably episodes 176, 177, and 178 wasn't out of stock. I want that a whole lot too. Other than the fifth movie, that trilogy has the most Gin/Sherry hints I've found. X3

I started a sequel to Ghosts. It wasn't going to happen, but I got a couple of requests for one, and I wanted to do something else, so I decided to see if I could combine the ideas. I got the first chapter written, but now I'm slightly stuck on how to get Ayumi involved without having her abducted. XD; Suggestions are appreciated!

I also got distracted by a one-shot, which was originally just going to be a blurb. This time Gin and Vodka got stranded in a blizzard chasing down a traitor (and admittedly, the traitor was only a plot device to get them to the setting and to cause more trouble for them later on). Each thought that the other was suffering from hypothermia, and they ended up having a tense confrontation, which I must admit, I think turned out quite well. I loved writing the thing. ^^ I finished it and posted it on FF.net.

Writing for new characters is always exhilarating and fresh. And it usually gives me new perspectives. Now I'm much more interested in rebellious natures of characters, such as Marik's. I used to just leave that side of him alone, but now I'm intrigued by it.

That reminds me, I was supposed to write an essay about the Black Org's members and their relationships with each other, according to canon. I love those guys. XD

I always seem to get interested in characters largely ignored/forgotten about. Like with Fang from the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom, and the bikers from YGO, and now the Black Org. I must admit, I rather enjoy "pioneering" in these fanfiction categories, and writing stories about these characters.

My icon amuses me. XD I love the mail locker scene. Too bad that clip has gone bye-bye now, too.... **sniffle.**

Chapter five of Ghosts is up! I was supposed to get to the flashback of when Gin and Vodka met, but that ended up not making it into this one. XD; It will be in the next one, though! I'm not sure how long this will end up being, but I'm thinking maybe eight chapters.

**giggles.** An AMV with the Black Ops and the song Bad Guys would be amusing.

Now that I've come to terms with liking Gin, I believe I, too, would call him cool. XD Not because he kills people, of course, but because of his whole nonconformist attitude and the way he can easily use those weapons. I will enjoy writing his eventual showdown with that pedophile Ushio! Making Gin the protoganist while keeping him in character is fun.

I find his attitude very appealing and I think one of the reasons why I enjoy using icons and banners of him is because I'm saying "I'm not a pushover, and I'll do whatever I darn well please." (Kinda one of the reasons why I like Hellsing and wanted to cosplay as Alucard, though of course that's also just because Hellsing and Alucard rock.) He is what he is and makes no apologies. And I think the way he dresses shows that he is very uninterested in conforming to rules and traditions. Usually people in crime syndicates wear business suits and such, but Gin doesn't care and dresses more casually, yet awesomely. I love that coat. X3

And Aubrie and I concluded that Vodka seems shy around women. XD In the Men in Black AMV (which is on both YouTube and Animemusicvideos.org, and must be watched. EDIT: WHOOPS! There's two MIB AMVs, as I just discovered! Both are good, but I like the YouTube one best), there's some clips from a scene where Gin and Vodka are in a bar with Vermouth. Vodka seems to act somewhat shy around her. XD It was cute. Vodka needs more fan love. I don't think he's as stupid as some people like to think (even though I still get a giggle out of the drabble where he takes "Let's blow this joint" seriously).

Oh yeah, on Monday I got the first volume of the Detective Conan manga. X3 It's amusing. Gin and Vodka are much more jumpy during the roller-coaster aftermath in the manga than in the anime. And I rather liked where Gin pulled his hat over his eyes and commented, "Poor stiff."

I watched part of episode 1 to then compare. The subtitles were kinda funky. XD This time, "aniki" got translated as "big brother"! **hits head on desk.** So wrong.... That makes me think of Mokuba! **starts snickering and decides it's definitely time for sleep.**

She wrote a detective blurb the other day, and showed it to me. I loved it, and ended up with the idea for a random one-shot that I eventually called Ghosts. I wasn't sure if it was IC, but I hoped so, and I posted it. So far, they like it. ^^ SN liked it so much, and mused so much over what could happen next that she inspired me to make it a multi-chapter mystery fic. XD I've posted the second chapter now.

Anyway, I say Lizzie might regret it because she doesn't like Gin and well, he's a major player in the story (of course, he is in all my works). Lizzie's blurb featured a really creepy guy who was the inspiration for the jerk in Ghosts, and the whole idea came out in the first place because I wanted to see how Gin would react towards someone like that. For a brief moment I mused over the inconveniences and possible uncomfortableness of needing to create an OC for the piece to work, and then it hit me: why use an OC? I could use Ayumi! That's much more interesting, anyway. XD; She's such a cute kid. ^^ Definitely my favorite of the Detective Boys.

I love my icon. ^^ Aubrie made the awesome base, using a couple of Lurkerdrome's screengrabs, and I added the text. Though I still think it looks plain on such a wonderful base. I wish I could give the text a shadow effect or something fancy like that.

The other day I made a list of songs I thought related to Gin, and/or the Gin/Sherry pairing, and posted it in the Detective_Conan community. Among the songs I included were:


( Songs )