Dienstag, 27. Januar 2009

When Gods of Death get bored

Ryuk, a death god has lived so long and life in the dry world of the death gods has become boring. So he drops a death note in the human world. A death note being a notebook, which looks like a normal notebook, but if you write the name of a person in it and picture their face in your mind, the person will die. This book falls onto the human earth and into the hands of genius best student of the year - Yagami Light, son of a police officer. Light decides to cleanse the world of evil and starts to take out numerous criminals by means of the death note. Soon - and totally in line with Lights plans - the world takes notice and the governments make L, the most famous of all investigators look for "Kira" as the killer is named. L is a genius himself, but will a human who does not know of the existence of death gods and their notebooks ever get to the truth of this case? A battle of minds ensues.

Death Note, a manga and later also an anime series made furore. The story is very excitingly told with numerous twists and turns and unexpected events. The art style is excellent, the characters outstanding. And very importantly: Death Note, both the manga and the anime appeal to a wide audience. Even my husband, a man who belittles my interest has shown an interest in Death Note. For everyone who would like a first small visual impression, I found a short AMV at youtube:







I liked the story very well, even if I did not believe it completely without fail. The middle of both the mangas and the anime has a little sag in the story, where I got a bit impatient and wanted the plot to proceed faster and to "get to the point". Still, it overcame that stage and it did get to the point. It was also made in a very appealing way with good graphics.


My favourite Death Note Characters are:

L
L. Of course. The reasons are simple: He's a mastermind and very cute. He's outstanding and I like his naked feet and crouched way of sitting. And the look of challenge and fun in his eyes.

Mello
Mello. This one is more difficult to explain. He's a bit of a villain after all. I liked him because he seemed rebellious and difficult to handle. And because he had the most outstanding fashion sense in the series ... well, maybe after the death gods. Also in the later part of the series Mello has half of his face covered in burn scars. And he's one of those people who look better with scars than without. They add to his character, before the scars he looked like a sulky teen, with the scars he has finally grown into his own role.

Ryuk
Ryuk - the Death God. He's mischievious, selfish and heartless and doesn't bother to hide it. Ryuk is just fun to watch.

Mikami Teru
Mikami Teru. I know this one is really difficult to explain. Another villain. But I prefer Mikami to Yagami Light, because even if he deceives himself about the means to achieve a better world he just fell for the whole "Kira = God"-thingy. I admire him for his strict, stoical habits and his discipline. And - let's be honest - I thought he was the best looking man in the series.

Hey, most of my favourite characters are baddies!!! Hmh ... I wonder - does that say something about me?

There were also characters I hated. Most of all Amane Misa. I hated her already in the manga for her stupidity and her dumb-is-cute-attitude and her totally misplaced believe in Light. I hated her even more when I saw the anime because she had a horrible high pitched voice that I could not endure for long without getting headaches.

No matter if it is the manga or the anime, Death Note would suit almost anybody with a mind open enough to try something new.

And just to prove my point - of course there is Death Note Doujinshi yaoi, lots of yaoi fanfiction and fanart out there! Check it out:


Dienstag, 13. Januar 2009

Where Rebels shop

Over Christmas and New Year we have been renovating. We have been going through a room swapping stage. The swapping is now concluded, but the renovation still carries on.
We live in house. Downstairs we have a kitchen, a small bathroom, living room with dining room (separated only through a halfwall so they appear as almost one unit), a conservatory and one bed room, which before was the twins room.
Upstairs we had one bigger bedroom where my husband, Lucy and I were sleeping. Next to that a small room that served as a changing room, where our wardrobe was placed, a bathroom and a study.
First my husband and I had to pack all our clothes into suitcases and boxes and our son got the small former changing room as his new pirate cave. Then we had to all 3 of us move out of the upstairs bedroom and that became the new girls' room. Then my husband and I moved into the former twins room. Then we collapsed.
And after alltogether almost 6 weeks of renovations in various stages of chaos we even decided to get a new cupboard for the kitchen. Despite sore backs and being sick of the mess, we are still not finished. Ian and I are currently sleeping in a room that still has a cheery animals-at-the-zoo border und a glow-in-the-dark-starry wallpaper. But for now I am weary. Even the upstairs rooms still need little things to do here or there like new curtains, a new lamp etc
One of the side effects of all this was that I have been visiting IKEA at a weekly basis. As I did - again - today. If you are feeling sick at the sight of Köttbullar, it's a sure sign, that you have been at IKEA too often.
IKEA is a phenomenom. It attracts people of all age groups, all professions and all kind of mental states. Today I was parked next to big van painted in matt black with the skull and crossbones, top-down crosses and Antichrist paroles included. On the back there was a statement, that the van was the means of transport of ... the big city rebels. ... Hmh? Should satanistic rebels be shopping at IKEA? Don't they have an image to keep up? Like making their own furniture out of real bones and steel or sleeping in used coffins? I'm kinda disappointed. Punks, Goths and all other kind of rebels should live in style. Like this:
120 days of Sodom

I remember that my friend used to live in a flat over a goth-punk couple and she was immensely amused by their all-black washing hanging out in the sun to dry, and their very normal and un-gothic, un-punky behaviour including lovers-quarrels about who's turn it was doing the dishes. They even complained occasionally that she should please turn her music down. Seems sometimes what's inside is not what the outside suggests. Satanists buy the striped Ektorp-Couch at IKEA and Goths can be unmasked as wish-we-were-Goths. The real punk was probably my friend, whom people who did not know better thought normal or possibly even boring.