Cahoots34

The irony of the Viagra ad in which a multitude of heterosexual couples begin to dance in the streets to the tune of 'We Are the Champions' is hardly lost on me, and I can't imagine that I'm the only Queen fan who has a laughing fit whenever I see it. (I think that Freddie would find it just as hysterical, if not somewhat more so.)

I was aware (however vaguely) that the series existed, but I had no idea that it was being liscenced in 'the States'. Perhaps the publishers have finally noticed how popular CLAMP's work is and acquired some taste, voluntarily or not. Speaking of publishers, who exactly is responsible for [B]XXX+Holic[/B]?

[QUOTE=ChibiHorsewoman][color=darkviolet] Then there's thoseGundam Wing fanfic writers who pair Hiiro with Duo. Personally, I'd pair Hiiro With Trowa becuase I think they'd be least likely to kill eachother no matter what everyone else says. [/color][/QUOTE] Personally, I'd be compelled to hesitate before pairing up two homicidal sociopaths (especially these two), but I've seen it done. I think the main reason that 'odd/even' pairings are so popular in Gundam Wing is that since Heero and Trowa are so similar, a relationship between them wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling (or interesting) as separate romances with Duo and Quatre, respectively. If opposites attract, than the differences between those opposites highlight the corresponding variations within their 'other halves', so to speak. Who you fall in love with is a huge reflection upon your character. I'd find it a bit narcisistic, almost, to envision Heero and Trowa in love. But hey- to each their own.

[QUOTE=ReFlux][color=green][size=1] .... yeah, lovers tend to impale blades threw each other, kill their ex-lovers, and kill each other before going steady. [/color][/size][/QUOTE] Er, have you ever read X/1999? (It's yet another series with loads of 'interesting' implications, where that actually does seem to be the standard method of courtship among the main characters. Romantic, ne? I'm speaking only from information inferred by the first eight books and a multitude of spoiler sites, though, so please excuse me if I'm taking nonsense. I tend to do that quite often, as I'm sure you've noticed.)

When I was six, my father (in his ultimate wisdom) took me to see My Neighbor Totoro, the Hayao Miyazaki children's classic. I remembered the incident only as an unusually charming film until I began to watch Digimon in 4th grade. These big-eyed people look fundamentally familiar, I thought to myself, but otherwise disregarded such thoughts in favour of a _complete and total_ obsession with one of the characters (unnamed). The next year, I discovered Tenchi Muyo! (which I loved) and Outlaw Star (which I should have loved but wasn't appreciative enough of) were more-than-viable substitutes to the second season of Digimon. From there, it was not a slippery slope but more of a greased-rubber cliff covered in ice, jelly, and marbles over which I tumbled, blissfully unwitting, into my current passion for the anime genre.

I like to think I'm something like Chang WuFei from Gundam Wing. (He, of course, would be appalled at the comprison, but no matter.) We're both stubborn, prideful intellectuals who have something of a tendency toward perfectionism, superiority, pointless ferocity, guilt, and overpowering frustration. The need to be critical is an enourmous part of our natures, though the vicious edition is most oft directed at ourselves. Were we not so intent on struggling with baffling emotional ineptitude by constantly venting misplaced adolescent anger and constantly resenting the supposed injustices of our pasts, we might actually be deep and thoughtful people. That, however, would be far too simple, healthy, and painless; an absolute lack of self-inflicted emotional suffering. Where is the honour in that?

In my fifth grade year, AIM suddenly became popular among my friends and I. The biggest fashion was to create a screenname that had some connection to the letters of your name. A reluctant Catherine, I thought it appropriate to become Cahoots, which smacked to my prepubescent self of playful secrecy. 34 was simply a number that I tacked on to distinguish myself from the multitude of other Cahootses (apparently they exist) and yet now makes infinite amounts of sense to me as a fan of Gundam Wing yaoi. Serendipitous, I think.

Movies are one of my favourite methods of escapism. If I'm bored and/or tired of reading, I'll gladly go spend my time in a dark room, pretending to inhabit the products of someone else's imagination, so long as that imagination happens to have a fair amount of deafening explosions and elaborate fight scenes. (Watching films about other peoples' emotional traumas could not interest me less. I am a teenager, and I hear about nothing _but_ emotional trauma from my peers for eight hours a day. I refuse to pay to experience more of that, and that means absolutely _no_ 'chick flicks'.)

[quote name='Monkey_Orange][COLOR=DarkOrange']It's a 'chick thing'!!![/COLOR][/quote] I definately agree. I once saw a definition of both yaoi and yuri as "the naiive and feminine belief that love transcends gender." While the naiivete is questionable, same-gender coupling _is_ a concept embraced predominantly by females. (Whether or not this is partially influenced by society's rigid expectations for males remains to be seen.) Even if it is a question of hormones alone, the guys are still missing out in a big way. [quote name='Monkey_Orange][COLOR=DarkOrange]I prefer my Shounen-ai with a dash of humor [like [B]Fake[/B]], or equally, a dash of angst [like [B]Mirage of Blaze[/B]']. [/COLOR][/quote] If you like your shounen-ai with comedy-- and I know I do-- I'd suggest Eerie Queerie. (I know, I hate the title too.) It is (surprisingly enough) a sweet, funny series that deals ever-so-lightly with death, posession, and teenage relationships. If you liked Fake, you'll probably enjoy this. To do a _completely_ random subject change, there's been a lot of talk about shounen-ai series, but very little about shoujo-ai. Aside from the most famous (infamous?), Shoujo Kakumei Utena, I find very few series where the token lesbian(s) get(s) more of a role than the eccentric best friend or pair of mysterious yet approachable lovers, an inequality that infuriates me to no end. Would it be so hard or unsuccessful to create a witty, entertaining comedy featuring a female couple? Anyway, if anyone knows of a few worthwhile shoujo-ai series, I'd love to hear about them.

[QUOTE=Dagger IX1] What qualifies as canon? I have a hard time answering that question.... anyone else feel like giving it a shot? ^_^ [/QUOTE] I've always found that to be a frustratingly vague subject, especially when trying to reconcile the claims of a creator with things that an entire fan base notices and accepts. My latest fun fact is that 51% of online Harry Potter fans think that a relationship between Sirius Black and Remus Lupin is 'practically' canon, though there has been absolutely no mention of it by the author. Weiss Kruez and Yami no Matsuei, though benefiting from very little exposure in the United States, have incredible popularity (and 'go-to reference' status) simply because they have the vaguest unconfirmed suggestions of shounen-ai. Creators of Gundam Wing (you know, the series so devoid of visible romance that one character's failures to kill another are meant to be interpreted as signs of deepest affection?) strenuously denied that there was any involvement between male characters of the series... then released official artwork showing one adolscent male holding another posessively. Clearly, silence and denial make little difference (significantly less so if mixed messages get sent) to the fans, which makes canon a less and less relevant--or definable-- phrase. That... really didn't help at all.

If my plan to become a used car saleswoman doesn't work out, I suppose I'll actually have to acquire some skills and go into linguistics, psychology or theology. No matter what I do, I also plan to attempt to have something of a writing carreer on the side, which apparently doesn't require any actual ability or talent to be lucrative.

[I]How long have you been using my otaku?[/I] This actually prompted me to go and check. The oldest post I have is from August 13, 2003. That's almost a year, unless my math skills are degrading more quickly than I had anticipated. [I]How frequently do you work with my otaku?[/I] I'm trying to discipline myself to post daily, which means I actually post about three to four times a week. [I]What all of you do with my otaku?[/I] I use it as the journal that my computer-illiterate parents can never, ever read. There's a lot of freedom in that.

I'm obsessively thrifty, especially when it comes to my appearance. I have sworn my alleigance to Old Navy, drugstore cosmetics and barbershop haircuts. As long as I feel comfortable with my appearance, and am at least marginally presentable, I see no reason to spend extra money to try and correct my obvious lack of physical attractiveness. That realism, I've found, is a powerful budgeting tool.

My only disorder to speak of is very acute pyrophobia, which is due in large part to an instance with my best firend, a candle, and my hair. I'd have to say that I'm an advocate of medication for those with ADD/ADHD, but only if they desire it. I have quite a lot of friends with one or the other of the disorders, and frankly I (my compassionate self) would really rather not come within five feet of many of these people when they're unmedicated (seeing as many of them also have an inexplicable facination with fire, which is clearly not a common interest). Having seen the effects it has on my friends, many of whom actually told me they had and were medicated for a disorder before I even suspected that I might need to suspect something, I am of the firm belief that it does improve the quality of life. However, if they chose to forego their medication for any reason- be it personal, psychological, political, toast-related, whatever- I would do my utmost to support that decision (from a safe distance).

Literally? Episodes 24-25 of Gundam Wing, in which Quatre (the hitherto martially-unimpressive pacifist) [spoiler]is driven insane by the ZERO system, a brain-wave modifying device of his own creation. Under that particular influence, he fantasizes that everyone is his enemy, and attacks a colony completely innocent people.[/spoiler] Knowing of his personality, it was surreal, (to say the least) but on a completely logical level, it made perfect sense, which only contributed to the feeling that it was totally bizarre. (It was well worth it to watch Trowa 'save' him, though. Yaay for psychological melodrama!)

[QUOTE=Sara][size=1] Cahoots--surely not [i]every[/i] song? (I am going to be greatly amused if you say yes.) But, hey. My mom loves Billy Joel, so I grew up listening to it. [/size][/QUOTE] Well, as much as I hate to deprive you of your amusement, I will admit that not _every_ Billy Joel song evokes mental images filled with angsty bishonen. (Unfortunately.) I've found that his purely instrumental stylings cancel out even my (comparatively) normal thoughts, let alone ponderings about the vaguely (and not so vaguely) romantic undertones of a series filled with adolescent males. ... The end of that last sentence completely hijacked my train of thought.

I love this book to the point of worship. I don't, however, really see how it's particularly similar to [U]The Catcher in the Rye[/U]. 'Coming of age' stories aren't exactly rare; is [U]Catcher[/U] simply the most classic? Frankly, I think Chbosky's 'interpretation', if you will, was far more poignant than Salinger's, in that it was slightly more coherent and featured a character who was not so much rabidly unambitious and jaded (as Holden is), but a boy who is to all intents and purposes a relatively normal teenager wandering on the fringes of his personal society. The latter, I think, is a bit easier to identify with than the former, but I'll admit I could have formed that opinion mainly because I hate [U]Catcher[/U] with a passion.

I think it's somewhat the opposite for me. The comic won't make me think of music, but music will always suggest a certain comic. For instance, whenever I hear Billy Joel, I begin reliving all of the subtlely shounen-ai moments of Gundam Wing. It's even gotten so bad as to be song specific- 'You're My Home' seems like Trowa's exact thoughts on Quatre, and 'Just the Way You Are' is Heero (about Duo). And it happens for _every single song_. ... It's a bit frightening, actually...

While I am possibly the least knowledgeable person when it comes to DBZ/GT, it seems to me that there just isn't a story without Goku. He basically creates the circumstances (and children) around which the entirety of every story must in some way centre. I can't see it being Dr. Gero, as Unborn Lord Zion states- without Goku, the Earth would have probably been obliterated, annihilated and/or otherwise cosmically inconvenienced so many times that Gero would have been too dead to make any kind of an impact on the series.

Seeing as Hallmark has become my only signal of seasonal change, I like to consume excessive amounts of Easter candy and watch Easter specials on television. I'm also something of a petunia fan, although planting those is a rather unimpressive passtime, comparatively speaking.

Assuming we can choose from anime and manga as well as video games, I'd pick Haku (Naruto). When one can intimidate enemies while wielding acupuncture needles as weapons, it's generally agreed that one is quite 'cool'. And wielding said acupuncture needles with precision enough to send one's mentor/lover/soulmate/sugar daddy (whatever Zabuza is) into a state deathlike enough to fool other ninjas without causing him permanent damage is certainly remarkable, especially when one can do that and still get up early the next morning to charm the enemy (and a great deal of the readers, I'd wager) into some serious questioning of their sexuality. Yes, though he eventually died a dramatic and utterly pointless death for the sake of his eyebrowless koibito, Haku is still my favourite (and therefore the coolest) ninja, by far.

Seeing as most of the best anime contains elements that are considered to be detrimental to the 'innocent and impressionable' minds of the young American public, I have a feeling that this board may be here for some time. And that _does_ depend on what you mean by 'well-known'. For instance, Yami no Matsuei has never been shown on American television, nor the manga released, yet it's one of the most 'well-known' yaoi series. (Which says a lot about the status of yaoi in our popular culture. That isn't the point.) Hikaru no Go, as was mentioned, is a series of a similar background, although it has been previewed in Shounen Jump and will be released by VIZ...eventually.

My problem with face washes are that when you lather them 'properly' and apply them with your hands like any sane (or passably so) person would, you rub all the bacteria, dead skin, ect. from your hands onto your face. (Not that my hands are exceptionally dirty, but I spend quite a lot of my time either typing on strange computers or playing with art supplies, and the combination of both often proves too resistant to depart _completely_ from my hands, no mater how much soap I use.) How, I ask you, is your face supposed to benefit from having grimy foam rubbed all over it?

There's supposed to be a relevant purpose for all this?! *looks panicked* No, this is generally the most human contact I ever get (or hope for). The fact that I can control why and to whom I actually speak is immesurably valuable to my antisocial self. My, that was overly dark...

Since I buy more manga than DVDs, I have a very small price range. If whatever I want is more than $20, I generally just lust quitely after it instead of buying it. Plus, lately, I've become accustomed to the teenage concept of 'social outings'; that is, going to see a movie or have coffee with friends. Having a life doesn't put _much_ strain on my wallet, but it is a drain that wasn't there before, so I have a renewed interest in budgeting for things that are relatively inexpensive.