Aoi Hana

I first got really in to anime when I was in my early teen years. I'd been watching Sailor Moon since I was about 10 years old, and then I discovered other anime like Ranma 1/2, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Neon Genesis Evangelion (all of which I enjoyed, but none of which I ever finished.) I've been realizing lately, though, that I miss anime and have been wanting to get back to discovering new shows (as well as finally finishing the old shows I used to watch.) I've reconnected with Sailor Moon and now i've found another new anime thanks to AfterEllen.com. The show is called Aoi Hana, and so far i've watched 2 episodes and am already hooked! Apparently AfterEllen and Crunchyroll have a deal going so that all the episodes can be played free on the AfterEllen website (meanwhile you have to pay for a membership at Crunchyroll) So far, it's about these two girls who were good friends as children, one moved away, but they've reconnected several years later now that they're in highschool. And, well, you'll have to watch to know exactly what happens... Take a look for yourself and if you have any other anime recommendations, let me know! You can watch the first episode fan subbed below:

Vampire Fetish: Take A Bite.

So just like most True Blood fans, I am eagerly (impatiently) anticipating next week's latest installment of this dirty south vampire novella. However, I can't help but notice how huge the vampire market is these days. Now, I haven't seen Twilight, nor have I read anything by Stephanie Meyer (funny, too, since I went to high school with a girl by the same name - but no, it's not her), so I can't really give an honest opinion about either. Part of me wants to say it's probably crap. It looks very... fantasy-ridden and the actors/actresses all look relatively young and unappealing to me. Maybe if this had been going on when I was still in high school, it would be more relatable. Still, I have several friends who have jumped on the Twilight bandwagon and claim it is amazing. I may watch it online someday... for free.. when i'm done watching everything else that needs to be watched.

But anyway! Back to the point. Vampires are hot right now! There hasn't been this much hubub about the beautiful undead since perhaps Interview with the Vampire showed two of the hottest male actors at the time (Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt... and actually, Antonio Banderas was big at the time as well) in all kinds of homo-erotic situations.

I saw the film back when it first came out in 1994 when it first came out (I was about 10 at the time), but it wasn't until about 3 years later that I became immersed in the world of Anne Rice and her seductive yet practically asexual vampires. And once I read Interview (and later, The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, Pandora, Tale of the Body Thief, etc.), I quickly realized what crap the Cruise-Pitt flick was. And let me not get started on Queen of the Damned... which had all the potential in the world and had to turn out to be one of the biggest film let-downs of my relatively short life.

Vampires have existed in legend and folklore for centuries, and have become popular in pop culture ever since F.W. Murnau put Nosferatu on the big screen. I finally got around to watching that recently (or re-watching... saw it on Halloween night at some theater in Boston a few years back) and thought it was pretty great, albeit a bit slow. I haven't gotten around to Bela Lugosi's Dracula portrayals, but plan to do so this coming October (the month wherein I only allow myself to watch horror films!) I do have some personal favorites in the vampire genre asides Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, including but not limited to:

Once Bitten

The Lost Boys

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the MOVIE, not the show!)

Vampire Hunter D

From Dusk Til Dawn

(yes, i'll admit I used to hate it because I felt that the first half of the film was just much better and the vamps come out of nowhere, but upon later inspection, it's pretty great.)

Vampire Princess Miyu

X-Files: Bad Blood

So why the fascination? It could be that we all want to believe we can escape our own mortality. There's something romantic sounding about living forever. And most vampire stories have been overly-romanticized, with old period clothing and candlelight and coffins and lace and undying love. Either way, like zombie films, they're just good fun.

What are some of your favorite vampire portrayals?

Weekends In Miami (A Re-cap!)

What more can you ask of a weekend asides from good friends, some time well spent in a pool, delicious (yet affordable) wine, and a free convention?! This is my weekend retrospective...

Friends (Erik, German, and Susan) came by on Friday afternoon and we spent it in my apartment complex's pool. Love going to the pool because it's almost always empty (which is was except for at the end when a few kids came by and sat around at the far tables to chat.) Found a few beach balls there to throw around. Swam laps. Played goofy games. Erik and Susan took turns doing flips and jumping in. Had an all around good time.

Spent the rest of the evening indoors, watching tv (Rachell Maddow, Ghostbusters 2, and Seinfeld mostly), having organic pizza and drinking wine.

Saturday was a mostly lazy day spent with Tony. At night, we had friends over (more wine was had) and things were good. Somehow though, we all forgot to take pictures.

Sunday, Susan came over and she, Tony, and I went to FIU for the annual Yasumicon. I used to be an FIU student but never went to Yasumicon until now. I've been to a few conventions in the past, but never one that was totally dedicated to anime. It was pretty cool, but I felt extremely out of the loop. I barely recognized any of the costumes or merchandise. And most of those in attendance were exceedingly young (probably from the 12-18 age range.) Either that or anime fans need to take their vitamins.

There were some cute vendors (whose cards I picked up and who i'll name later when I edit this.) They had a LAN party going on upstairs, but I'm not really a gamer by any means. I got there too late so I missed all the good panels since most were on Saturday.

Saw some faux sword fighting and the "Maid Cafe" was... interesting to say the least. Apparently maid cafes are big in Japanese Otaku culture, which consist of small cafes/restaurants where the servers dress up like maids (they also have butler cafes) and refer to the patrons as master/mistress and treat them as if they were in their own homes.

Here's a few other misc. pictures from the convention:

Ran in to Eric (of Coffee House Gypsies fame) on the way out. Unfortunately we didn't get to see them play, but we will next Friday night @ one of my favorite bar/restaurants (right on UM's campus), Titanic. He also told us about Arm Cannon's performance (which we also unfortunately missed.)

Afterwards, we tried to find where the post-anime hurricane Comic/Anime shop was, but apparently it too has closed its doors. Very sad, indeed.

Rest of the afternoon was spent recovering (my back has been killing me), watching Twin Peaks and Sailor Moon. All in all, a good weekend well spent!

Haruka and Michiru Love!

This is the most lesbian video of all time (alright, maybe not, but you have to love T.A.T.U.  singing to the love story of Michiru (Sailor Uranus) and Haruka (Sailor Neptune!)

SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen the entire Sailor Moon series! Don't say I didn't warn you...

Sailor Moon!

I recall being about 9 or 10 years old, sitting in the waiting room at Kendall Regional Hospital, when I first heard about Sailor Moon. I had picked up a newspaper I found and was looking for the tv schedule when I saw an article about the new fall line-up. It was probably 1994 or so, and in those days, I didn't have a computer where I could magically watch anything I wanted by performing a Google search. I saw a big black and white picture of this girl with long blond hair wearing some kind of a sailor/school girl outfit. That's the first time I ever saw a picture of Sailor Moon. The article said it would premiere on UPN in about a month, at 2pm I believe. I got home from school (Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary at the time) that day and turned on UPN and saw my first episode of Sailor Moon. I was instantly hooked. I watched every episode of the first season, and again once they repeated it. I was excited when they finally brought in a second and third season to American televisions. My fascination with Serena (Sailor Moon) became very strong and I began pleading with my mother to videotape the show for me because sometimes I didn't make it home in time to watch. Me and my best friend Miriam at the time were complete fanatics. We knew all the words and all the characters and all the songs and all the moves. We would draw pictures of them. I was Sailor Moon and Miriam was Sailor V. The obsession became stronger with time, and there was even a point in my childhood fantasies where I was truly convinced that on my 14th birthday, Luna the cat would follow me home from school just like she followed Sailor Moon. She would tell me that I, too, was part of the Sailor Scouts (or Sailor Senshi, as they're called in Japan.)

But I turned 14 and nothing of the sort happened. I still watched Sailor Moon, but teen angst was beginning to rise and I had more important things to watch and make fun of. Miriam and I went our separate ways and Susan and I became best of friends. Susan likes Sailor Moon, but she wasn't the hardcore fanatic Miriam and I were. Time passed and I began to find out about the changes they'd made to Sailor Moon, how much had gotten lost in the translation. The show was taken off UPN's syndication and was picked up by Cartoon Network for a while. They translated an additional season, but made several changes to the character (for example, the lesbian couple were said to be "just friends" so conservative parents wouldn't throw a fit.)

By the point, I began to lose hope of ever watching the finale to Sailor Moon. I found an online website that had scans of the manga and read some for a while, but later lost the link due to some issues with AOL. Anime Hurricane, an anime and comic shop in my old neighborhood, opened up and I would have my mother drive me over to buy subbed copies of the episodes of Sailor Moon I hadn't seen. Unfortunately, Anime Hurricane was a bit slow in receiving new copies of the subs so it was a few weeks in between purchases. Eventually, I lost hope and gained new interests. Life moved on and I was in highschool. Made new friends. Got in to trouble. The usual schtick.

But I never really forgot about Sailor Moon. She and the rest of the Scouts always stayed firmly in a little spot in my heart. Recently, I began organizing my old videotape collection and started marathon watching the old episodes i'd recorded as a child. They always bring me fond memories. However, the unsettled feeling remained. I still haven't finished Sailor Moon!

They were selling the dvds at Best Buy for a while for a good $100 or so, but at the time it was too rich for my blood (hell, it still is.) Someday, i'd love to buy them. And if I ever have a little girl, i'll be sure to introduce her to the warrior of love and justice.

For now, however, i've found a pleasant substitute. As it turns out, I hadn't performed a Google search for the show in a while and now i've found a website that has all 200 episodes streaming online! Definitely a most fortunate discovery!

I just finished watching the very first episode, in JAPANESE, and it was fantastic. Very different from the English versions. I'll be spending the next few weeks watching the rest in hopes that I can finally lay my curiosity to rest about what happens next on Sailor Moon!