Opps! Maybe Fantagraphic's distributor was 7 Hills, not LPC!

Now Clinton has gone plum crazy. Without term limits, it's too easy for the public to elect the same guy over and over again. With our current system, no matter how much one president screws up, at least the next president can attempt to remedy the damage, but under this system, we'd probably be stuck with some neo conservative president that keeps us back instead of moving us forward. I'm not saying we couldn't have a string of neoconservatives, but at least they'd have different approaches to the same problems. The no consecutive terms is the only good part, but I can just see the same two guys switching off, while I'm not the black helicopters type, I can see how alliances could be made.

Some more coverage on the Fantagraphics story. Gary Groth on the money problems. I always thought that Gary Groth would look like the chubby small comics magazine writer from Box Office Poison, and that Kim Thompson would look like the skinny one with a receding hair line, but long hair all the same. However, I have not ever seen pictures of them, and plus, it's pretty childish of me to speculate on what the publishers look like when they are in need. But it's so fun anyway.

More fallout from LPC's bankruptcy. Fantagraphics (an indie comic publisher- i.e. not capes and tights) is in trouble now. Over the last year or so, Top Shelf AND Drawn and Quarterly have had financial problems due to this bankruptcy. Well, since I was going to buy something anyway, just couldn't decide, I might just stock up on Love and Rockets.

I love the new boyshort trend that is happening now. Last year, I was idly wishing for tap pants, and wondering how I could get some, now they are freaking everywhere. The closet substitute were unsexy boxer shorts, which were comfortable, but weren�t cute enough. My mother wondered why I got three pair- because it�s like �breast slings� (not exactly a sports bra, lets your breasts be supported yet feels so comfortable, maybe they are called bralets.), the trend may not last, and as it is underpants, it doesn�t matter if it is out of style, and I can have cute panties in perfect comfort for years. Oh, and in other news, the US gov't has plum lost its mind.

Today, I watched Far From Heaven, which was a pretty pleasant movie.
It got in there, made its point, showed its story, with a minimum
of melodrama or why can't we all be friends grandstanding. Julianne
Moore really portrays a naive housewife, really well. Although,
I did not like the music; it isn't really a melodramatic movie
so why does it need melodramatic music?

Yesterday, I watched Moulin Rouge and High Fidelity. Moulin Rouge was very hyperactive, with tons of dazzling costumes and wink and a nudge pop songs. It was very fun, a total spectacle.

High Fidelity was also good. It's such a nice record of a turning in someone's life, a realization. It seemed very real, like it was someone's personal story instead of some pap cliche. Also, it had a good soundtrack.

Today I made a great eggplant pasta. There's nothing better than the smell of sauteing eggplant and mushroom. I may have put in a bit too much red pepper, but that wasn't too bad. Now, a page of good contemporary and retro pinups!I love pinups. I don't know, there's something about the unabashed objectification of women that appeals to me. They have a great sense of fun to them also.

Here is a cute story about terrorists. It's so sweet! Too bad terrorism can't be stopped with love more often.

This is a very interesting essay. I would like to play with form without substance. I would like my clothing to be costumes for what I'd like to be today, but I know that others look down on form without substance- if you look like a hippy, be one, if you look like a trendi girl, be one, if you look like a goth, be one. Maybe that is truly form without substance- as if you can't change your look without changing who you are. Then again, I have noone to be, so why not change it?

Today, I finally watched the 5th episode of Rose of Versailles, a classic 70s anime series about a fictional guard of Marie Antoinette. It is full of the lovely court drama you'd expect such a show to be about, and directed in such a grand style. It is so sad that nowadays anime fans are more focused on the boobies than fine shows like this, but what are you going to say? This show is the precursor to such shows as Brother, Dear, Brother(Onii-sama E) and Utena.

And now for medical horror stories. Breast implants gone wrong. and a shocking case of a very overweight youngster.

Look, it's Death from Sandman! How cute!

Personal Responsibility porn is a new fetish, not for me, but for many people. It allows us to get our lip smacking, and high horsing in, without considering any complexity. We all get off on lynching someone, and saying "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT". However, while that feels really good, I don't think that anyone is going to change because you just said "it's all your fault". But then again, doesn't it feel good to have the illusion of superiority?

My hero of the day is Jhonen Vasquez. Warning, this interview is hosted on Suicide Girls.com which might have pictures of naked girls if you dig hard enough.

Salads are not always healthy. Some people may say how can a salad not be healthy, but they are crazy. Salads are not healthy when you load them up with meat (especially fried), cheese, bacon bits, and a vat of dressing and mix it all up. The sad part is that the iceberg lettuce on which most of these sad salads rest barely has any nutrients at all.

If you want a healthy salad, load it up with veggies instead of meat and cheese. Don't just sit back and have to hear folks moralizing about how bad fat is. Step up, and shut those people up.

Fancy Lala Volume 6 or Shannon Finally Makes Good

Well, I finally received Fancy Lala volume 6 on Saturday. Instead of being charged a ridiculous $40 at Best Buy, I got it for $20 including shipping (although that wasn't the cheapest price-but Deep Discount DVD was out of stock) I made good, and the DVD was as good as I thought it would be.

I really like Fancy Lala, because it's a good anime show that doesn't need all that to be good. It doesn't need panty shots or violence or tons of bishounen or gay innuendo to be good. It goes on, is down to earth even with its fanciful plot (a young girl gains the magical ability to appear older).

An example of this is Miho and Taro's relationship. Instead of trying to shoehorn a romance into the story of kids, they merely grow closer, and there are hints about the future, but it doesn't try to make little kids be like adults. It keeps that integrity.

The end is also an example of this, although there are spoilers for the very last episodes following this sentence. Miho loses her sketchbook, but the story never loses its integrity. There is reassurance here and there- Pigu and Mogu live in all times, etc, but still in a pretty down to earth framework- the magic is gone forever, and Lyrical Pro is left with a mess on its hands. Miho tries to make amends, but her former co workers don't have a miraculous flash of insight, except for Komi, who has seen the Mysterious Man in his youth.

The Texas Democrats are my hero of the day. Instead of giving in to unfair tactics, and then crying tomorrow, they said "Hey, this is unfair!" and cut out. Some people may complain about this, but they were never the underdogs. This is the sort of initiative I can respect, instead of the initiative that most people follow- call people bad if they don't know what to do perfectly at every juncture.

This is a bad historical moment. It's so easy for us to race around saying everyone is bad nowadays, and now I just happened to be in my difficult college years when bad labeling is in vogue. I guess it does have benefits for the person doing the labeling, but our society can't really thrive if we leave the problems unsolved, because just saying someone is bad doesn't do anything.

For example, a depressed person isn't going to cheer up because you tell them they think too much. Actually, you'd make them more depressed if the crux of their problem was rejection by others. You may think casually sprinkling rejection is fun, but by making the problem worse, you have fucked up. So learn to have some sense, fuck ups. Thank you.

Today the link of the day is to the 34 Million Friends . Basically, their mission is to make up for the 34 million Bush failed to send to aid reproductive health in poor countries. While this service does not provide abortion, they provide contraceptives and help for complications in child birth. It's a good cause, and helps to nullify some of the damage that this Presidency has inflicted on the world.