All night coding.

Well. This is what I get for going online in the early evening. Well, not really. I suppose it was inevitable.

Lately, I've been transliterating Buck-Tick songs. I've gotten 4 of them done in the past few weeks, from B-T's new album, Kyokutou I LOVE YOU. So, of course, there's no way I can just let them sit around the house. So I ended up making a "shrine" just to host the lyrics, basically.

I have the main page and the lyrics page done, including the links to the four lyrics I have so far transliterated. Transliterating's a lot of fun, although a bit time-consuming, so I expect to continue, although not at a rapid pace.

I like my layouts. ^_~ They're not amazingly imaginative or anything, but I think they're pretty cute; and they match the layouts for the rest of my site, so that's good. I was never one to change layouts on a monthly basis. With me, it's more like every year or two I end up changing layouts (or something else on the page).

In any case, I'm especially proud of these transliterated lyrics 'cause I know that they're all correct! It's so kakkoii! I used to do this sort of ghetto transliteration where I'd transliterate the hiragana and katakana and then guess at the transliteration of the kanji by listening to the song... which was just about 50-50 on correctness. But now they're 100% correct, which is just amazing...

...even though I still don't know what the hell they're actually singing about... but that's beside the point! ^_~ Not to mention, I'm on such a B-T transliteration high that I'd take requests for transliterations of any B-T song... (hint hint!)

Right. So if you're even a passing Buck-Tick fan, take a quick look at the new site (it's so small that it'll only take you a minute):

http://bucktick.koyasunomiko.com

Weiß Kreuz Glühen

I just saw the first two episodes of WKG subbed. I am greatly impressed. I'm one of those fans who loved Weiß Kreuz mostly for the seiyuu and bishounen, but I've mostly stayed out of the online fandom because: (1) I don't like how the charas are portrayed in most fics, and (2) WK fics tend to stay within the canon plot to a certain extent (as in, there aren't that many AUs), and while I loved the show, I thought the plot was silly and boring. (So shoot me.) Not to mention that the animation is highly inconsistent.

In any case, I'd completely trailed out of the fandom when online translations of the CD dramas became available, so I don't even really know what's going on with Weiß outside of the anime. o.O* (Yes, I know, I'm very bad.)

As a result, I've been pretty detached over the new WKG series that all WK fans have been discussing like mad. And I actually have alienated myself further by being one of the few who actually like Youji and Omi's new chara designs. (Not that I don't miss the old ones, I do. But let's face it, they're not coming back, so there's no use crying over spilt milk.) I also like Aya's -- he looks so much more biseinen now -- but I have to try really hard to avoid looking at his forehead and eyes; I really don't like how they're drawn. Ken. Well. He certainly got the short end of the stick on this one, but I think it pretty much evens out 'cause in the first season he was drawn the most consistently anyway.

But I've pretty much avoided most of the screencaps that have been put up, and the opening and ending songs, etc. But Angelica apparently ordered copies of the first two episodes on CD-R, so I just got to watch them.

I'll restate: I'm greatly impressed. The art is consistent (so far, anyway), not to mention, really nice! It's really sharp, reminiscent of Kaikan Phrase art, really well done. (Except for Aya's forehead and eyes... Maybe it's just that I love Aya so much that anything short of perfection for him bugs the hell outta me. But then again, that きれい braid of Aya's is absolutely to die for!!! I'm going to be thinking about it all the time now... all I need is for Nanjo Koji to do his hair in a braid, and my 3 favorite charas will all have braids... I can just see it now, a braid obsession, of all things.)

The story, so far, is interesting... the new charas are interesting. And while there doesn't seem to be more on-screen blood and gore, the sort of implied violence makes more of an impact in comparison to the first season.

I really hope I didn't jinx the 11 remaining episodes by posting my favorable impression of the first two. We'll see.

My only complaint (besides Aya's forehead and eyes) is that Sena and Omi look too much like each other. (But Yamaguchi Kappei's voice is sooooo kawaii~!) Oh, and I know that people have been drawing parallels between the new badguy (Toudou) and Nagi, but I think he looks too... well, round... to look like Nagi. For some reason, I keep thinking of Arima from the Kare Kano manga.

Flashing horns.

Halloween was actually fun this year. After school, I met up with Angelica, Louie, and Maryann. We met at Grand Central Station, where I was waiting for them, decked out in my red flashing devil horns. As they came down the hall and finally realized that the one with the flashing devil horns was me, their reactions were more than worth the $6 I paid for them.

We went to Asahiya 'cause Louie had put the new Buck-Tick photobook (IKONOKRUSM) on hold for me there. I would happily have ordered it from CDJapan, but they don't have it there. So, yes, I spent the $50 I don't have on it. There's no possible way I could've left it there. While we were there, I took advantage of the great lighting to take a few pics:

Goth-elf-hime (Maryann)
Random goth-wannabe & Kaoru from Dir en Grey (Angelica & Louie)
Kaoru holding cell-phone strap with his name on it (Louie)
Akuma with bondage pants (Me!)

Then we went over to Wendy’s to have a little bit to eat, where I showed everyone the pretty B-T pictures and gushed over Atsushi-kun while listening to (and dying over) the ドレス remix from the Shapeless album. Liz called my cell around 4:30 to find out where I was (and boy am I glad!) ‘cause she’d stayed late at school. So she came to meet us and we stayed there until about 5:15 or so.

We then headed over to GCS so we could all catch our respective trains. But in the process of saying goodbye (for a good 30 minutes) we were standing outside the jewelry store in the Lexington Passage and guess who was in there?! Aaron, who works at Tumi, a luggage store right across from the store where we work in the Passage. I pointed to my horns and said, “You like?” He said, “Of course I like.” He’s so adorable. I’ve been trying to get a picture of him since I bought my digital camera. The only time he’s ever posed for a picture was when Louie had a disposable camera at the end of last year’s school year, but the whole role wouldn’t develop! So we don’t have that pic of him! Since I’ve been trying to get another photo of him, he’s been completely turning away and all. Grrr! I don’t know him well enough to feel comfortable forcing him to get a shot, so I don’t push it. But this time I got a picture of his back while he was leaning over the counter in the jewelry store, and then another shot of his back when he was walking away from us to go to Starbucks. Damn him. One day I’ll get a shot of his face! Then you’ll all be able to agree with me & Liz when we say that he really looks a lot like Jason Newsted (formerly of Metallica).

After we (finally) left GCS, Liz, Angelica and I went on a trek farther into Queens than… well, farther than Angelica usually goes. Liz and I go there quite a bit. Anyway, we went to a fabric store in order to look for patterns for cosplay costumes for next year. We’re determined to do our own costumes this time – I don’t want to pay out of my ass for another costume I’m disappointed with.

This is a pic of a horned demon emerging from shadows, attacking an innocent young girl. (a.k.a., Sara & Liz on bus.)

On a side note, can you imagine how many people stared at me, commented on my devil horns, made “devil” puns, and other odd comments?! I mean, I realize they’re a little flashy (no pun intended), but I didn’t think they’d stand out as much as they obviously did… it is Halloween after all… While I was waiting for Angelica, Louie, and Maryann to show up, at least 10 people commented that they liked my horns, around 4 smiled at me (obviously because of the horns), and at least 3 others gave me a “thumbs up” sign. I wasn’t offended or anything, but it really took me by surprise.

It was lots of fun, though. I really liked them; they’re so cute! Now I feel like wearing them every day rather than just on Halloween. ::sigh:: I think they’re better than a real costume. From now on, I’ll leave the costumes to con cosplays, and for Halloween, I’ll just do bondage pants and flashing devil horns!