Bruno is now at the bottom!!

Jerksblog!

Date-Based Archive Hikaru No Go

See, this quiz is funny because Akira almost NEVER wears casual clothes. Most of the time he's dressed in some Victorian-era boy's school uniform.

You are Casual Akira! Not everything in life are Go
matches and formal events. Sometimes Akira also
has to relax and show some colors, wearing these comfortable yet elegant clothes and
taking a break. But whatever he wears, he looks nice! ^_~


What Akira Touya style are you? ~ Hikaru no Go ~
brought to you by Quizilla

Posted by erin at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Lost 40 pounds and 40 dollars

So even though it is a Good Thing that I've quit my job, and a Good Thing that I've got these internships, it is a Bad Thing, perhaps even a Very Bad Thing that I won't actually have any money for quite some time. What it basically boils down to is that I am going to have to find a part-time job in order to pay rent. This is a major pain in my ass, since it essentially means I'll be working three jobs. One of them, will, inevitably, be nights and weekends.

This is going to be bad news for our D&D game, but I'll update you with more developments as things happen.

Also, I've hit the 40 pound mark. I've lost 40 pounds since January! Only 15 more to go and I'll reach the "Maximum Weight for All Adults" of my height. Maybe I'll throw a party when I get there.

Most importantly, if anyone hears about any pithy, goddamn, low-brow, part-time, low-pay job somewhere, for the love of god, let me know about it. I won't be a waitress or a bartender, but I'll do just about anything else (that's legal).

Posted by erin at 04:43 PM | Comments (3)

Date-Based Archive 5...4...3...2...1...

In Microsoft Outlook, you can change the options of any given message to not delivery before a certain time. This is what I have done with my resignation letter. It is set to send after I leave today, so I don't have to be here when my boss reads it. You know, just in case she explodes or something. But don't worry, I was very professional and followed monster.com's advice of not saying anything nasty. Nevertheless, I'm filled with dread and anxiousness. I used the angle that I got a new job on a cartoon show.

Posted by erin at 04:29 PM | Comments (9)

Date-Based Archive Accurate

Except the job title:

erinfinnegan Magic Number 17 Job Singer Personality Rainy Day Temperament Best Not To Ask Sexual Straight Likely To Win A Place On The Bench (For The Reserves) Me - In A Word Evil Colour Brought to you by MemeJack

So I'm thinking, Robot Cock Fights.

Posted by erin at 07:55 AM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Q. Is Erin Going Crazy Lately?

A. Yes.

As many of you may have noticed, last week I started a thread on jerksquad wherein I attempted to answer on question with every jerk avatar we have. This is madness, as there are about 400 avatars. I managed to add at least three new avatars over the course of the thread as well (Wirschen, Q, and a Menstruating Bear).

Over the weekend I did many things. On Friday I watched The Hulk - wherein I found that the CGI is much better on the big screen than it looks on television, however, the Andromeda Strain editing drove me up the wall. I don't have much to say about this movie, other than, perhaps, it's highs were higher than the Matrix Reloaded and it's lows were not lower. (Also, AK's ideal mate is portrayed in the film; evil guy who lives in SF, runs several science labs.)

On Saturday we all played D&D. Wirschen made his body check and is no longer a statue. After several attempts, he turned Jean-Claude back into a human (from pig-form). Njal fought some stuff in a dungeon.

On Sunday N. and I road every train in creation (many on the wrong tracks) to visit N.'s friend Z. in Brooklyn.

Then, somehow, I ran very short on cash. I guess my own accounting was crooked. My tax rebate from New Jersey came just in time, but I have to go to an actual bank to cash it (not just an ATM). My bank is not in the same state as my workplace, and my bank's hours are horrible (closes at 4pm?! What the hell is that?!)

But hope springs eternal. My mysterious post from a couple days ago actually refers to how I intend to take an internship on Codename; Kids Next Door in the fall (starting as early as August). No, it doesn't pay much (pocket change, really), but it's only part-time, so I can find something else to do the other part of the time. Possibly take a second internship, for example.

Basically, I've realized that the main cause of my insanity in the past couple of years is due to me getting my priorities backwards. Yes, having an apartment and a credit history and health insurance are all important things, but so is having a job one doesn't hate!

Most important in all of this, is, of course, N., who is acting as an ever-positive force of change in my life.

Posted by erin at 04:56 PM | Comments (2)

Date-Based Archive Yuricon; The Legend Continues

Here's What I Watched, from best to worst:

Azumanga Diaoh (New Years). Azimanga Diaoh is based on a popular 4-panel strip comic, many of which have been translated into English by the San Jose anime club: Strips available here. This was one of the funniest goddamn things I've ever seen, but it is probably impossible for me to convey a feeling of the humor here. The strips I've read so far are OK, but not nearly as hilarious as the show.

Rose of Versailles 15-19. The fabulousness continues in Rose of Versailles episodes 15-19, even though the focus is off of Oscar and more on ancillary characters. One of the episodes had the best change-of-heart scenes I've ever seen. A girl's estranged sister is killed (in an awesome way), and Oscar and friends look to the girl for her tragic reaction. The girl is all, "Who cares? I barely knew her." and then a split-second-turn-on-a-dime reaction, "OH GOD MY SISTER IS DEAD!" It was totally awesome.

Plastic Little is a classic sci-fi anime with very plastic character designs that I liked a lot. I only caught the end, but I'd love to see the whole thing. Iczar 3 is also classic sci-fi in short format with nifty character design, although not nearly as good. Iczar 3, although it is second-rate anime, is not boring at all.

Haibane Renei 5-8 got really depressing. It's the show about the weird angels. Kamikaze Tsukai Ran 5-9 picks up a little later in the series, particularly in episode nine. It's a decent show, although not one I'd spend money on.

I My Me Strawberry Eggs is, as expected, pretty run-of-the-mill standard stuff. You got your sex jokes and a Bosom Buddies plot there, and that's about it. It's nothing special. Cleopatra D.C. on the other hand, is action anime with an almost-soft-core-porn character design. It had humorous moments, such as the explanation of Cleopatra's name - "In the United States there are two Washington D.C.'s!"

G-Taste was really cracking up the audience, so I peaked in to see what it was about. It turned out to be hentai that focused on spike heels and nylons, and happened to be subtitled in really bad Engrish. For example, at one point the woman yells, "Abnormal!" when she obviously means to say "Pervert!" Other than that it was plotless, with a strange disembodied-voice narrating some parts.

Posted by erin at 01:53 PM | Comments (3)

Date-Based Archive The Yuricon Entry; or Never Go to Newark

This weekend I dragged N. all the way to distant Newark, NJ for Yuricon, "a celebration of shojou and yuri in anime and mange" or, more aptly titled, "Anime for over-18 lesbians and ecchi." Yuricon was certainly not over-attended, although I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a failure, because compared to Newark, everything is a success.

I have heard that Newark is the car-theft capital of the U.S., however, I had gotten a map off of some website pointing out an "arts district" and a university, so I mistakenly thought that downtown Newark might be an OK place, as long as you don't bring a car. Oh, how wrong I was.

The hotel with the convention in it was right across the street from the train station. N. and I quickly found that the buildings downtown are connected by a series of catwalks, much like in Minneapolis/St. Paul. However, in St. Paul, the catwalks, or "Skyway" was built to keep pedestrians out of 12 feet of snow. In Newark, the skyway keeps the Eloi away from the Morlocks.

We discovered this when we left the hotel in search of somewhere to eat lunch. Leaving the hotel, and walking on the street turned out to be a hideous mistake. In Newark, bums outnumber other pedestrians. This never happens in Manhattan, where, even in the wacky hours between 3:30am and 5:00am, bums, at best, equal the number of pedestrians. Apparently in Newark at 1:30pm on a Saturday, there are actually fewer things open than any other urban center at 4:00am on a weeknight.

After fending off beggars and (as Jason speculates) cannibals for half an hour, we retreated back to the skanky over-priced hotel bar. There we found edible food and the saddest karaoke ever. (Only one person bothered to sing, and it was a convention staffer.)

People, I've been in downtown Detroit, and I can tell you it's a million times better than Newark. There's a casino and a couple of big theaters, and it's OK to park your car. So long as you never leave the "beaten path" or make a wrong turn off major roads, in Detroit you're reasonably safe. This is not the case in Newark. In Newark you should probably not get off the PATH.

Posted by erin at 03:18 PM | Comments (9)

Date-Based Archive I Am Devoting My Life to Cartoons

I realized the other day that I can't continue on at my job for much longer. With the last month coming up on my lease, and my financial situation under control, I am finally at a juncture to make drastic changes in my life.

What the hell have I been doing in the two years since I graduated? I know the answer to this question, but I find it terrifically annoying that it took me two years to finally get some goddamn direction in life.

Posted by erin at 05:01 PM | Comments (7)

Date-Based Archive SCUM

I got into a really bad mood today - partly because of too much caffine intake, but partly because my coworkers are SCUM!

Mostly, Mike S. who plays in a stinky band and pretended to put up with me for quite some time until slipping up today and admitting he hated me:

Me: Wow. I haven't played putt-putt golf in two years.
Mike: You mean mini-golf?
Me: Yeah.
Mike: I hate people who call it "putt-putt."
Me: Then you must hate me.
Mike: Yeah.
Me: But for other reasons, too, right?
Mike: Well...yeah.

I played it off as a joke, and so did he, but he was actually serious. SCUM! J. confirmed this later.

I don't like Mike S. either, mostly because he's a banal stoner who checks out hot chicks at lunchtime. More so than other guys - like to the extent where he expressed disappointment that there were no hot chicks out in skimpy summer clothes today. SCUM!

I expressed, to Mike S. and the others, many times, the topics which I do not care to discuss at lunch, which include: 1. baby-eating, and 2. Shuffluffugus eating babies, 3. the number of "hot chicks" in the area, and 4. M.I.W.F.'s. My other two coworkers-who-occasionally-eat-lunch-with-me can respect these boundries and are capable of holding a conversation about something other than the four topics above. Mike S. is not, and it occurs to me now he probably continued with those topics to drive me away from lunch. It was effective. I hadn't eaten with the group in month. J. dragged me to lunch with them today, against my better judgement.

Also D--- O. was being a bitch, ignoring my reasonable work-related email request. SCUM! But I'm too mad about that to go on about it now.

Posted by erin at 07:36 PM | Comments (6)

Date-Based Archive Super Annoying "Gen Y" Label

Thanks to that jerk who named gave Generation X its "cool" name, my generation is being crappily referred to as "Generation Y". At first the use of the term was not widespread, but NPR used the label in a headline this morning:

Cars & Generation Y.

That really irks me. Also, even though I'm not in the market for a car, I'd like to interject that advertisers are totally clueless as to how to get my generation to buy cars. I've only seen one car ad that appealed to m, ever. That would be the one where the guys sing "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto."

Posted by erin at 11:09 AM | Comments (17)

Date-Based Archive Weekend Anime Briefing II

Last week I finished the rough draft of my (second) screenplay, so I treated myself to a whole weekend of anime watching. I wasn't a complete shut-in, though, as I went to the Josh Ritter concert on Friday and Lauren's friend's birthday party on Saturday. I also finished making pins with Stella. I made about 95 pins (1 inch buttons) that promote jerksquad and feature anime characters. I intend to give the pins away at anime conventions, bringing joy to the hearts of all who receive them.

Here's a briefing on the anime I watched this weekend, listed, once again, from Most Worthwhile, to Not Worthy of My Time. I've linked the titles to the database of the Anime News Network Encyclopedia, a pretty damn good database (I also highly recommend the site as a news source).

Rose of Versailles. This is an older series from 1979/1980 that totally rocked my meerkats!!! Basically, Revolutionary Girl Utena is a giant rip-off of this series, which is a million times better. The character design is very much in the tradition of Battleship Yamato. Set 20 years before the French Revolution, Rose of Versailles is the story of Oscar, the youngest daughter of a French nobleman. Tired of having only female offspring, Oscar's father has raised her as a boy, hoping that she will become a high-ranking military official, in the family tradition. However, it's no real secret to anyone that Oscar is actually a girl. Everyone in town calls her a "she" except her father. Oscar is a bad-ass at fencing and one of the most beautiful girls around. She wears boys clothes all the time, including a totally hot uniform. Need I say more? This series is great and I recommend it to everyone. For an older series, it's quite fast-paced.

Get Backers. In my original Weekend Anime Briefing I gave a thumbs-down to Get Backers. However, I'd like to retract my original comment now that I've seen the first two episodes. This is actually a really decent show that Adan would totally love. Reasons that Adan will love this show: 1) High Yakuza presence (100% in the two episodes I've seen). 2) Trigun-esque mix of comedy and drama, and 3) Protagonists with super-powers. Initially there are two Get Backers, and each has one super-power; one can emit electricity from his body like an electric eel, and the other has the "evil eye". This means that by making eye contact with someone he can cause them to hallucinate for one minute - in effect the bad guy dreams that the cops have arrived and acts accordingly. Auug!! Bad-ass!

Magical Angel Creamy Mami. Don't let the "Creamy" in the title fool you, this is a children's show from the early '80's. The "Creamy" is the crepe stand that Mami's parents work at. This show is, in fact, the original Fancy La La (a series that sucks). Mami (a ten-year-old) is given 1 year's worth of magical powers by some friendly aliens. The magic power is that she can transform herself into a teenager who happens to become famous. She also gets two magical/alien talking kittens. Anyway, I'd advise Rick not to watch this. There's a lot of non-sexual panty-flashing in the first episode.

Piano (or Piano Lesson). When I woke up on Sunday, I'm not going to lie to you, I was hung over. I never used to get hung over, but I guess losing 35 pounds really lower one's tolerance. Anyway, Piano was just about the right speed for a hang over. There wasn't much conflict, and the graphics aren't all edgy. There are no flashing lights or loud noises in Piano. In fact, as far as I can tell, the series isn't about much. There's this Junior High girl who's taking Piano lessons. Her mom and her piano teacher are kind of mean to her, but not to the point of an actual conflict that might steer the plot in some specific direction. The girl forgets her sheet music and loses her umbrella. That's pretty much the entire episode. It wasn't bad, really, but it's quite slow. The only real down-side is that the protagonist has a hideous hairstyle that only looks OK in profile.

Sister Princess was one of the worst damn shows I've ever seen. Like Tenchi Muyo, this is in the "harem" genre of anime where there's a guy who meets a bunch of (sometimes magical) girls who are hot for him, and he refuses to date any of them. The twist in Sister Princess is that nobody wants to date anybody. The protagonist is a young man, who, after failing his exams, goes to study on a desert island to study. It turns out that the island is inhabited by 13 girls who claim to be sisters (despite a distinct lack of parents), and these girls claim that the protagonist is their older brother. It's all non-stop doting and vying for attention from there on out. He does some chores for them. That's about he extent of it. I can't see where anyone in their right mind would like this show. It's not quite as bad as Trouble Chocolate or I Wanna Be an Angel, but even B-grade Air Master is better than this crap.

And that's it. That was my weekend. N. and I also watched more of the totally awesome Hikaru No Go, which I cannot stress enough, is so totally awesome.

Posted by erin at 04:06 PM | Comments (11)

Date-Based Archive My Crappy Book List

All the other kids are doing it, so why can't I?

Below is my sorry-ass list of only 50 recommended books. I had to restrain my self from adding books like The Journey to the West (Hsi-Yu Chi) or Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh), which I know are good but haven't read yet. The only author with two books on my list is George Orwell. I think that's fair.

I'm not going to lie to you. My list is truly sad, padded out with plays and comics and no less than two Choose Your Own Adventure books. If you notice a lot of classics of literature missing from my list, it's probably because I haven't read them. I think my list came up short because although I have read more than one hundred books, I'd hardly recommend 90% of them to other people. There's that, and the fact that I read quite slowly. I apologize that this list does not adequately reflect my childhood as a bookworm. Looking back on it, I must have read mostly crap, and eaten mostly junk.

Watership Down, Richard Adams

Cruddy, Lynda Barry

Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis

Five Novels (compilation), Daniel Pinkwater

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J. K. Rowling

Bone, Jeff Smith

The Lord of the Rings (series), J. R. R. Tolkien

1984, George Orwell

Animal Farm, George Orwell

The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Lord Of The Flies, William Golding

Sandman (series), Neil Gaiman

Tetherballs of Bougainville, Mark Leyner

Ramona Quimby books (series), Beverly Cleary

Hyperspace, Edward Packard

Tokyo Suckerpunch, Isaac Adamson

Neuromancer, William Gibson

The Changeling, Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Black Stallion, Walter Farley

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert O'Brien

Nausicaa (manga), Hayo Miyazaki

The Berenstein Bears, Stan and Jan Berenstein

Hate (series), Peter Bagge

A Wild Sheep Chase, Harkin Murakami

Penny Arcade, (first year collection), Mike Kahulik(?) and Jerry Holking

Waiting for Godot (play), Samuel Beckett

He Loved Me, He Loves Me Not, : A Guide to Fudge, Fury, Free Time, and Life Beyond the Breakup, Lynn Harris

Love and Rockets, Gilbert Hernandez, et al

Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Suki

The Diamond Sutra

A History of England, Gregory of Monmouth

Russian Folk Tales (compilation), A.N. Afanasiev

High Fidelity, Nick Hornby

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

Otherwise Known as Shelia the Great, Judy Blume

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes (compilation), Bill Watteson

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged (play), Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield

Ranma 1/2 (manga), Rumiko Takahashi

Eclectic Kool-Aid Acid Tests, Tom Wolfe (much better than On the Road, with common characters)

Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac

The Very Best of Marvel Comics, Howard MacKie (Editor), Stan Lee, Chris Claremont

Hamlet (play), William Shakespeare

Scavolea, Hal Johnson III

David Boring (compilation), Daniel Clowes

Journey to Stonehenge, Fred Graver

Grand Canyon Odyssey, Jay Leibold

Posted by erin at 11:19 AM | Comments (6)

Date-Based Archive Big in Japan

I found this super-useful list here, and I am re-posting it for postarity, and my own purposes. List by "Kenneth Lee":

Here are some shows that bombed in Japan and was popular in US or vice-versa:

Popular in Japan / Bombed in the U.S. or Probably Won't Do Well in US
---------------------------------------------------------------------

* PATLABOR - Fantastic show, BTW, for those that've never seen it.

* Sazae-san - THE highest-rated animated show in Japan consistently for decades, probably never see the light of day here.

* Doraemon

* Chibi-Maruko-chan

* Yawara! - Over 100+ episodes made in Japan, probably never see the light of day here.

* Kodomo no Omocha - Over 100 episodes as well, will never be as popular here as over there.

* City Hunter - Over 3 TV Seasons, lots of Movies, Specials, nowhere near as popular here.

* Maison Ikkoku - 96 episodes of pure dramatic bliss; we're just struggling to get the first few episodes put out on DVD let alone it being popular enough to complete.

* And much more...

Bombed in Japan / Popular in the U.S. (or at least more so than Japan)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Ninja Scroll (Jubei Ninpucho): Bombed terribly in Japan, HUGE over here.

* The Big O

* Macross Plus

* Final Fantasy OAV (yes, THAT old one - don't laugh, I know the sales #'s and it's sad but true)

* Blood: The Last Vampire

* Street Fighter Zero/Alpha

etc.

Posted by erin at 02:12 PM | Comments (6)

Date-Based Archive fuse

There is an ad on my paper coffee cup this morning which says, "Where's the M in Empty-Vee?" It is very obviously an insult to MTV. The ad is for "fuse" which is, apparently, "saving the music video one tv at a time." Fuse is, of course, the new name of MuchMusic, the Canadian MTV channel. More "fuse" facts: I watched some show called Kung Faux the other day. It is a half hour show that takes old martial arts movies from China (or possibly Japan?) cuts them up, and re-dubs and re-plots them, a la Tigerlilly, complete with weird graphics and After Effects SFX. The dubbing is all ghetto-speak. It's pretty funny, but Hal wouldn't like it. There are only two known episodes.

Posted by erin at 09:39 AM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive William Gibson mentions Kogepan!

Kogepan, who's name means "Burnt Bread" or possibly "Burt Toast" is a San Rio character adored by Japanese girls and similarly minded obsessive fans here in the states. Here's a picture of Kogepan:

Gibson mentioned him in his latest book, Pattern Recognition. He didn't just say it in passing, either. A character walks into a San Rio store in Tokyo and looks at Hello Kitty and Kogepan stuff. It's great!!!

Posted by erin at 05:48 PM | Comments (11)

Date-Based Archive Dorks and Chinese-American Girls Will Just Have to Wait to See Themselves on Film

When I was in junior high, there were no girls like me on television. Then, suddenly, there were three. Lisa Simpson, Darlene Conner (on Roseanne), and Daria Morgandorffer. All of them were witty, sarcastic, and hopelessly uncool. In short, characters who I could identify with!

I wrote my first screenplay, Sex and the College Girl with several goals in mind. First of all, I wanted to include a realistic cast of college students. That is to say, they would be witty, intelligent, and diverse, like people who I had actually met in college. Second, I wanted to include a huge dork.

Unfortunately, it turns out that including a huge dork and making the lead actress Chinese-American makes the script virtually unsellable. I hate that. I wrote a movie the likes of which I would love to see. I wrote a movie that would fill a gap in the marketplace. I wrote a movie where the climactic scene takes place in an anime convention!

Why am I going on about all of this now?

I went to a job interview on Friday to see an agent who works out of her apartment. She's fairly famous and was looking for an assistant. This would have really been the ideal job, as it pays more than an internship at my other prospect, and this woman has a scarily high number of industry connections. I did pretty well in the interview, and she asked to see my script. Even if I didn't get the job, I would be totally set if she liked my script.

Unfortunately, she didn't really like my script. She couldn't identify with the dorks, and worried that there just aren't any well-known Chinese-American lead actresses. She also hired someone else who was older than me and available immediately (and not, say, in two weeks). I also suspect the hire wanted to work with writers rather than actually be one.

Fortunately, the agent thinks I have talent and she liked me as a person, so she's willing to read my next script. That's really great, because she's a really great connection. My next script (Jerksquad) is 100% less dorky and contains 66% fewer Chinese-American lead actors. But it makes me sad that dorks and Chinese-American girls will just have to wait to see themselves on film.

Posted by erin at 03:05 PM | Comments (21)