Adora

[quote name='G/S/B Master']But you need more things on your hands.[/quote] You're probably right. The reason I was looking for things to distract me (wallpapers, art, avatars) was the fact I was trying to procrastinate and put off doing a university assignment :)

Hey ho. Since I was very bored lately, couldn't find any big enough artworks to make wallpapers out of and couldn't be bothered using real inspiration to make original artwork, I decided to make a tonne of 100x100 high-quality jpg avatars/icons. [url=http://img31.photobucket.com/albums/v93/TheAnimeSchoolgirl/Icons/][b]And so I did. I made 392 of them.[/b][/url] All of them are made from pictures I have on my hardrive through one way or another. Some are anime, most are manga or promo artworks, and there are a few other things there, like Kim Hyung Tae artwork, traditional paintings (Lord Frederic Leighton mostly I think), random funny pictures, a bit of Final-Fantasy ones, some Brian Fround artwork, and a few other random bibs and bobs like Neo giving the agents the finger in that scene from the Matrix, because I love that scene. The password is [i]HijiOki[/i], and I don't care about crediting or anything. The avatars are like fresh whores, waiting to be used (and abused) on livejournals, forums, webpages, whatever, for your pleasure. SO USE THEM! [b]But please do not direct hotlink to my account[/b]. Save the files you like to your own disk, and get your own photobucket account if you want that! And why yes, yes I am obsessed with Peacemaker. How can you tell? :D [size=1][/size]

[quote]"About Peacemaker:"[/quote] *gouges her eyes out with a spoon* That summary made baby Sihnpattsan cry! *snickers at the mental image* [quote]Oh, when I said Evil Souji, I meant his[spoiler] "evil twin" that shows up in episodes 16 and 17. The hitokiri boyslut one.[/spoiler] *Sncker* I think what you're talking about is how he acts in battle, with the creepy, pupil-shrunken-ness.[/quote] Ahhh now I get you. Sorry, heh, I have to confess, I haven't seen the anime yet, but I am hanging out for it. PAL territory + No broadband= teh suck. Eh, let's hope they don't do too bad a job (like the bastards who changed by Weiß Kreuz to "Knight Hunters"... goddamnit).

[quote name='r2vq']I think we are getting our scanlations from the same site. ^^[/quote] Eeeh, well, the site I visit for scanlations was different to the site I got some of those spoiler piccies from. The spoiler-piccies were just from a fansite where someone had done a few small scans of them n stuff (are we allowed to name-scanlator-names around here or is that a no-no like on some manga/anime sites?). [quote]Does that mean [spoiler]Evil Souji[/spoiler] has duty with Sano and Shinpattsan? o.O Or... [spoiler]Evil Souji doesn't wear his[/spoiler] swords either? :\ If you could clarify that would be great. :)[/quote] Heh. Actually, I think I was probably just being dramatic. Or maybe I just haven't read far enough into the manga yet. That's just what it seemed like to me [spoiler] because he says he can't control himself when he gets into a fight- even practice or training- and so far everytime I've seen him with a sword in the mangas, he's gone a tad nutty, or at least had the Evil-Souji look about him at some point[/spoiler]. Like [spoiler]when Ryouma first shows up in Kurogane, in the compound, he's just coming off duty, but then they er, "greet" each other and yeah... old Oni-eyes comes out[/spoiler]. Or [spoiler] when you first meet Hajime Saitou in the manga, and they're facing off in the compound, though he doesn't actually attack him, he's got that freaky-look about him[/spoiler]. Maybe it's got to do with the actual [spoiler]holding of a sword[/spoiler] rather than just having one, but the on-duty-uniform kind of prevents that temptation, when otherwise, when just shopping n such, that prevention wouldn't be there for him not to [spoiler] grab the blade and start crazily chasing evil black cats and such[/spoiler]. But yeah, I probably need to read more of the manga before I make these kinds of assumptions (if only the scanlators would work faster!).

When it comes out, I suggest you have a geezer at Samurai Champloo.

[quote]What made even more angry was the men saying "Allahu Akbar!" over and over again. That is NOT how Muslims behave! They're disgracing Islam and generating more hatred towards muslims and arabs.[/quote] Wahhabism. Wahhabism. Wahhabism. Wahhabism. Wahhabism. And as much as Saladin is a standout example, Uthman did a pretty good job of wiping out his own "Muslim" brothers when he was in power, and he [i]wrote[/i] the Qu'ran. Just as native Americans occasionally had their own bouts of warring, or Rwandans turned on their neighbours when given the chance by propaganda broadcast over the radio, blaming them for the economic problems the country was having. You're right. That's not how Muslims behave. That's how humans behave. It really doesn't take much to make regular people do very bad things to each other, as studies have shown. In fact, the worse individual from an Australian one I saw was a female nun. It has nothing to do with your religion, race, gender or age. Although they have found some correlation with education (better the education, less likely to go farther, on average). All it takes for murder like that, for torture like the gaol-photos, is a quick dehumanisation process and you have yourself a sadist.

[quote name='JazzLady22']Actually, Adora, I RP Akesato in Kyuuri High! ^__^ *Still cannot believe that people read it... squeal*[/quote] *mad insane squeal* OMG! I want whatever crack you guys are on sooooo much! *hugs you like mad* and I lurrrvvveee drunken Akesato, and the hilarious-as-all-hell therapy sessions. And of course *giggle squeal* whenever Souji gets sent to the Dean's office to get "punished" XD. AND SKANKS! SKANKS IS LOVE! You guys rock my world! I end up doodling Kyuuri-fanart in the margins of my college notes! Someone commented in my Japanese-Lit class today that they liked my Itou-bought-a-present-for-Hiji-san doodle even though she had no idea what it was (and damned if I was going to tell her XD). You've warped my fragile little mind... Oh, and I did [url=http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/7086715/]this[/url] a while ago too. [quote](like Maro, large-croaky-ninja-man, and Evil!Okita)[/quote] Ehhhh, isn't Maro [spoiler] the guy Suzu buys from Death Row in Kurogane manga? Y'know, giant guy with a massive sword, never really see his face who chopped up the Dirty-Old-Man & now hangs around with Suzu & The Brain (the two little catboys- ie two halves of the one brain)[/spoiler] and [spoiler] Evil Souji is always hanging around, just waiting for the boy to pick up a sword. That's why he doesn't carry one with him when they go shopping/ aren't on duty and he gets called girly by Sano & Shinpattsan[/spoiler] That's why I love him. Such a dark little uke... I mean fellow... :D [quote][spoiler]Souji still has tuberculosis, Yamanami's still hung up over Serizawa Kamo's assasination, and everyone is STILL going to die.[/spoiler] [/quote] Haaiiii, though in the manga [spoiler]I don't think Souji's thang becomes apparent til after the Ikeda Ya incident (which I'm fairly sure is the end of SI). From the scanlation I am feeding my obsession with, I'm up to halfway through vol 3 and there's been no mention of it... though it has appeared in the Kurogane scanlation in passing, that I'm also reading at the same time[/spoiler] (I'm sure you can guess the head-bguck that I went through reading regular-slightly-screwy-but-still-sane-Suzu in one and then, well, [spoiler]Skanks-on-crack[/spoiler] in the other...moral of the story: don't read anything and read the sequel at the same time X_x). [quote]But one thing I'm wondering is, how does SI Peace Maker end? Is it just like the incredibly fluffy and bittersweet episode 24 (complete with the wonderful hanabi sequence)[/QUOTE] I haven't read it, but from some scans I've seen, [spoiler]yes, yes indeed it does. Though from the same site I got those scans I was more paying attention to the ones where Hijikata is going ga-ga over injured Souji *melts*, and the ones before that where Souji and Tetsu dispose of you-know-who[/spoiler] so I may have been a bit too distracted to pay close attention to the boring bits. Heh, my post looks like an octopus came all over it...

[quote name='JazzLady22]By the way, Adora, Itou is a nasty, nasty man. [spoiler']He seems to like his Hijikata submissive, which rather disturbes me. The dog collar fantasy will give me nightmares for a long, long time. Fan... *twitch*[/spoiler][/quote] Oh god I know. He better leave my Hijikata alone, or else I will gouge those freaky eyes out with a stick & [spoiler]get Saitou to summon Yoshida back and have Suzu's pet skull chew his balls off while the Brain minces his wang through a sausage-making-machine[/spoiler] (/Hijikata fangirl protection mode). Hey, do you read Kyuuri High too? On a historicity note, the whole manga kinda spoils that anyway, no? I don't know how they start the anime, but the start of the manga has [spoiler] much older Tetsu being asked by someone (could be Hijikata with a haircut, since he survived the longest out of all of them) to deliver an important message, and the line that the Shinsengumi "were just washed away by time" accompanied by panels of gunshots and bloodied hands lying around[/spoiler]. I mean, I know a little investigation into history kind of explains [spoiler]Souji's cough & Yamanami's angst as well[/spoiler], but I'm wondering for anyone who's watched the anime, is it really holding that close to the historical narrative, or does it take lots of lovely liberties (apart from the character designs and humour)? Sorry for all the spoiler useage, I just don't know how much people around here have read/seen, or how the anime compares to the manga (I am so anime-deprived).

[quote name='Boba Fett']Their bias wasn?t hard to detect, in fact I couldn?t find a single statement of praise for coalition forces on the website. Surely we've done something right over there?[/quote] I dunno. Have they? HRW exists to give voice to the voiceless who's deaths and victimisation would otherwise go unheard of in the world media. As I mentioned, HRW has been used by the US Administration in press conferences when they changed their tune to 'Humanitarian Reasons'. So are you saying that using that as an excuse is also a bad move by your administration? [quote]I then searched with Yahoo for anything that could verify my suspicions about HRW's leftist agenda.[/quote] There's so many things wrong with this I don't know where to start. How about I just put it this way. If you're now going to claim that somehow that disproves the HRW reports, or that it means that you are now somehow objectively looking at the situation, all I can compare you to is a YEC. [quote]I was able to find a post on another, conservative, forum that exposed several problems with HRW's coverage of the war in Iraq.[/quote] Which I read. And I don't even have to go searching google or yahoo for the bias on [i]that[/i] site to make me scoff. They have " FreeRepublic.com "A Conservative News Forum" Posted at the top of their pages. So a Rightist agenda is better than a Leftist one now? [quote]As for the regrettable shootings of journalists covering the action in Iraq, it's something that happens in war. [/quote] If you'd kindly notice, the "war" was announced over a few months ago. [quote]However, if you seriously think that US forces would intentionally shoot at innocent bystanders/journalists?[/quote] Well, I didn't think the US forces had dumbarse cannon-fodder running their gaols. But I was proven wrong there, and look what happened. Never underestimate the stupidity of the human race. [quote]I still can't imagine anyone could actually believe that the US military would intentionally harm civilians.[/quote] I'd hate to point it out to you, but prisoners, no matter where the gaol, are still citizens of a country. [quote]Its obvious this isn?t going anywhere and that you'll attempt to shoot down whatever I say with statements reminiscent of Michael Moore (Specifically the President --> Thief business). Utterly pointless?[/quote] Actually, I was referring to the Radiohead reference with the Thief issue. Maybe you need to widen your pop-culture references, as well as your source references.

[quote name='Boba Fett']Research:The "Human Rights Watch" site that you got your "facts" about Iraqi women being afraid to walk the streets is severely biased. I wouldn?t trust a word they say.[/quote] Really? That's funny. Because your government was using reports from HRW and the Red Cross to validate this invasion when they couldn't find the Weapons of Mass Destruction and instead started using the excuse that they were invading the country for humanitarian reasons. Maybe you missed these facts: "Humanitarian disaster": Well, lets start with the links I posted. Did you actually read them or just look for a link to disprove HRW? Iraqi females now terrified to go outside their homes. Civillians being shot for no reason other than there is a military where there should be a police. The ransacked museums and hospitals. Hell, the hospitals that still have regular power blackouts. The UN pulling out. Sounds like a disaster to me. Now, if you would kindly post the URL of where you got your "HRW Disproving News Report", we can get on with the discussion (ALWAYS link your sources). [quote]However, I did find out that I was wrong about Iraqi oil production. Iraq was producing around 3 million barrels of oil a day under Saddam and now is producing between 1.3 and 1.5 million barrels a day, due to sabotage.[/quote] Prove it's due to sabotage. [quote]Bremer had made, and continues to make, great strides each day in improving the situation in Iraq. If you think he's doing such a poor job, who'd you replace him with?[/quote] Chalabi. [quote]You seriously think US Forces shoot innocent civilians? You getting this from Human Rights Watch too, or straight from Al Franken?[/quote] No, just the regular newscast at night. All the channels, newspapers (well, except for the Sunday/Courier, because it's a tabloid) and look, oh, The Age [url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/28/1080331001795.html?from=storyrhs] right here[/url]. Maybe you should stop watching CNN. It rots your brain like chocolates rot teeth. And it's not limited to Iraqi citizens either. [url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/19/14111/3435]Reuters[/url] [url=http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=269852]reporters[/url] seem to be targets of "not-so-friendly-fire" as well. Poor bastards. His name was Mazen Dana, for all those sick of hearing the name "Nick Berg". [quote]So it'd be better for these people if we just left them to the terrorists?[/quote] You opened the country up to the Fundamentalist Terrorists, you deal with the problems. [quote]You seriously think the government we've set up so far is capable of surviving on its own, after being in existence for barely a year?[/quote] Of course not, because they are mostly the same criminals and corrupt administrators that ruled under Saddam. [quote]Our forces will be needed in that region for a very, very long time.[/quote] No, A force is needed there for a very long time. This force should not be a foreign occupation. It should be a neutral police force. [quote]Far longer than any politician would like. Nevertheless, we've got to stick around until Iraq is more than capable of running itself.[/quote] You mean like you stuck with Afghanistan? *snort* [quote]The President of the United States doesn?t declare war just so he can feel important. That's absurd.[/quote] ... I find it absurd you even refer to the Thief as the 'President'. [quote]If you'd like your taxes raised another ten or twenty percent, we can become a socialist nation that punishes the hard-working citizens of our nation by taxing them to death and supports the slackers who don?t want to work. [/quote] And here we have the myth that "Most of your taxes go to welfare". Ever noticed that those countries with high taxes have some of the greatest doctors and surgeons, engineers and scientists. Ever noticed they also have extremely cheap/free Tertiary education? Guess it must be all that money going into welfare, eh?

[quote name='Godelsensei][font=Courier New']children participating in beauty pagents.[/quote] And here I thought this was going to be about something serious like paedophillia in the Asian sex trade. But yeah, Beauty paegents freak me out, no matter who the participants are. They are dolls, and nothing more, parading about drenched in chemicals and badly cut fashion. It's disturbing. [/font]

[quote name='Boba Fett']This situation is caused by Arafat and his terrorist pals, who've rejected any peace deals given to them.[/quote] Y'know, it's always interesting the correlation between political moves that decrease the funding going out of Saudi Arabia to certain organisations, and the Palestinians certain bouts of desire to engage in "Peace Deals". Quite interesting indeed... [quote]I'd think that women are much better off in Iraq today, with regard to their rights and freedoms, than they were under Saddam. More women are now involved in government, commerce and other public roles than under Saddam.[/quote] Then maybe you should actually read the reports I posted, instead of just saying what you "think". [quote]Sometimes it seems like the only way to control the Mullahs is through brute force.[/quote] Or lining their pockets. [quote]I'm not sure about gas pipelines, but the oil pipelines in Iraq, after initially being reduced in output during and shortly after the war, are now pumping out more oil than under Saddam. Legally too, I might add.[/quote] Hardly. Do some research. [quote]but rebuilding a nation isn?t easy with terrorists sabotaging our efforts.[/quote] And incompetent, culturally ignorant ex-Economist administrators in charge. [quote]I'm sure that Bremer and his staff are doing their very best to deal with post-socialist Iraqi society. Perhaps you think you could do better?[/quote] Since I obviously know more about the damn culture they're dealing with than they do, I have no doubt about that. [quote]The Iraqi Police Force we trained, pay and support fits this definition. Since we support this organization monetarily and back it up militarily, I'd say we're policing their nation.[/quote] No they are trying to police their nation. You are simply paying for it. And I'd hardly call a few months being shown how to shoot a weapon properly actual training in policing. [quote]This group is merely writing a Constitution and "holding down the fort" until the UN and the US can set up a nationwide election.[/quote] If the UN dares to put its head into this mess again. And that will be long in coming. [quote]How are attacks on these people by terrorists relevant?[/quote] Maybe you should read Bush Snr's quote again. [quote]If we overstay our welcome, this could happen.[/quote] Oh, I think invading a country kind of did that already. [quote]I think that as long as there are terrorists in Iraq, we'll be welcome there as protectors of the Iraqi people.[/quote] There are terrorists in Iraq? Really? Where? I thought they were all poor little Diasporic Saudi's living in the West who flew planes into buildings, or did I miss the secret document where it said they finally found the Weapons of Mass Deception? [quote]Based on what I'd said earlier, I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was talking about terrorists. Sorry for the confusion.[/quote] I thought the sarcasm would have been obvious. [quote]As for US soldiers shooting civilians, it's not a common occurrence and is assuredly accidental.[/quote] If overworked troops high on IPU-only-knows-what freaked out because of the dogma they're being fed to keep them there makes it "accidental" by your books, fine. I say, get a damned real police force in there, and there will be less of these *ahem* "Accidents". [quote]Unlike terrorist IEDs that kill mostly innocent Iraqi bystanders.[/QUOTE] So? If you read what I said, they write them off as Apostates. It doesn't matter how many of their own they kill. But by keeping big fat targets hyped-up in the middle of said environment, you're certainly not "protecting" anyone.

Okay. I thought the movie was horrible. Really it was. I wanted to gouge my eyes out with a spoon after watching it. The series was much better. I liked it a lot. The manga, well, you can't go past the original, can you? I liked it a lot (not loved it, but liked it a lot) even though sometimes it swung between decent action and character relationships and "Feathers"*. So yeah. [size=1]*for anyone who doesn't get the reference "Feathers" can be be described as "Self-indulgent CLAMP being bastards not giving us anything substantial but just using up print-space and fanservice quotas". There was a lot of this in X. Too much sometimes. Though it was not as bad as Evangelion. [/size]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']I'm sure I've seen the term 'June' elsewhere on the Web, but I can't remember what it means. Are you by any chance referring to shotacon?[/quote] No, June is an interesting term, and regularly is interchangable with Yaoi. June is pronounced "Ju-nay" and refers to a magazine once called that in the early days of Yaoi mags. [i]Technically[/i] it means serious, deep, meaningful, and sometimes sex-less guy/guy relationship stories in the manga form. But ones where they do have sex can still be called June. It's sort of seen as a "thinking persons" Yaoi. But stories where they are deep and meaningful and still do have sex can be called yaoi as well. Tis a little confusing. Maybe I should give some examples. A story I love that could be called June is Pinpoint Lovers by Kazusa Takashima. It's got angst, relationship warping and very little sex (a bit of kissing and cuddling and a waking-up-the-next morning, but nothing actually sexual). But her other "Prequel" to this called Mata Natsu ga Kita [i]is[/i] yaoi, even though it uses the same characters, has angst. Reading it, it's not exactly PWP (well, only a lil) but they do have sex, even though most of it is taken up with them angsting about each other (so cute ^^). So yeah. Aesthetiscism (sp?) have some good definition helplines on their pages, if you're ever looking for a better explanation. As for shoutacon, eh, well, its a bit like lolicon. I can understand why people might be into it, but its not my thang. I don't mind a bit of shoutacon/lolicon gag stuff that you get, but I prefer grown ups. The only thing I've read that's ever come close was this one called Devil x Devil. It's a cute n funny yaoi (read: they have sex, and it's not very deep, even though it's original) about a fallen angel and a devil. The fallen angel (supposedly) fell because he has a shoutacon, and the devil is a pathetic loser who eats some candy one day because he's so hungry... and turns into a young boy. Of course, this finally attracts the attention of the fallen angel (there's been UST before this of course) and we get some cute romancy thing going. He turns back to normal-form before they have sex though, which is good. I wouldn't like it if he stayed a kid during that part. Would weird me out too much.

[quote] the point of them killing the guy, was because he was american, and because they don't like how americans live. [/quote] This, my dear poster, is a perfect example of what I described as "Cultural Ignorance" on the Western side of this invasion. *sighs and shakes her head* So much to learn... Everyone, do yourselves a favour, go read [i]anything[/i] by Bernard Lewis. Please? For the sake of your brains. [quote name='Boba Fett']First off, the complete lack of emotional response to such a barbaric act astounds me. A twenty-six year old man was slaughtered like a pig in front of the whole world, and his corpse dumped near a bridge. [/quote] I haven't seen the video, so I can't comment. I've seen leading up to the moment, and I can't begin to imagine what's going through the mans head. That doesn't mean I should react like a 6 year old emotion-wise. However, look at it from this perspective. You are thinking with the exact same mentality as the Palestinian boys who have seen 10 friends die by the time they are 10, and want their own revenge on their killers. And we label those people 'terrorists'. [quote]We toppled their oppressive government,[/quote] Oppressive for some, anyway. As I pointed out, I'd hate to be an Iraqi woman at present. If there was one thing Saddam was good for, it was keeping the religious fundamentalists under the gun. [quote]have rebuilt ninety percent of their nation out of our own pocket,[/quote] Honey, the gas pipelines, so belovedly protected when the country was first invaded, are barely pumping out a fraction of what the once did. A lot of the country is still without power, and the incompetence of the administrators to deal with a culture still heavily influenced by socialism is laughable. [quote]are policing their nation free of charge[/quote] It's not "policing" when it is the military. That is "Military Occupation". When a foreign police force is actually in the country (such as Australia's force in the Solomons) or it is a UN Police force, THEN it is policing. [quote]and we're helping them set up a government.[/quote] Filled to bursting with ex-members of the previous "government" and pathetic power politics (Chalabi barely scraped in. Female members have been terrorised and attacked. Nuff said). [quote]They'll be crushed in time, and do not have the support of the people.[/quote] The longer you stay there, the more support they will gather. [quote]This isn't how war is fought. This is terrorism directed at innocent civilians. These men are disgracing themselves, their religion, and every moral standard every civilized society.[/QUOTE] I still can't figure out whether you're talking about US soldiers or the other side of the battles here. Are US soldiers who shoot up people in cars trying to get back to their home disgracing Christianity? Watch your generalisations here...

Azumanga Daioh *ducks heavy objects thrown at her head*. Oldschool 80's stuff, with that really heavy-handed artstyle. I don't like it at all. Harem-animes. Y'know Geekboy gets a harem of chicks/alien/robot housekeeper. I hate them with a passion. Tenchi Muyo is the king of them, and therefore my most hated. I really don't like previous Gundam series. Sure, they were great for some nice doujins, but I found they were pretty sub-standard generally. SEED isn't too bad, but I don't like it a lot.

Shoujo Kakumei Utena; It warped my fragile little mind in so many marvellous ways. Really it did. And the art and animation was brilliant. I have always had a thing for gender-benders, and the shoujo ambiguity was really distilled in this one. The characters really touched me, and the music was to die for Angel Sanctuary: More delicious warping. I liked the useage of the old Hebrew cosmology as well, and frankly, I'm a sucker for anything that involves a sexy Lucifer. Hanazaki to Kimitachi E has to be the final of my favs. *obviously has a thing for gender-benders*. It's probably the cutest and the fluffiest out of all my favs. I love the artstyle as well. Though obviously it's a manga and not an anime... but it still counts, right?

[quote name='HOTpage2004']So what I'm wondering is, are they telling us the truth or are they telling us lies, are we trusting them too much? [/quote] Depends on whose side you're on. If you're an Liberal Party Supporter (note for Non-Australian citizens: Current ruling government is the "Liberal" party, the irony being they are extreme conservatives) who likes what Little Johnny Howard is doing at present and you read newspapers that tell you what he is doing that you approve of, then I think that's going to be telling the truth for you. But, if you are like me, and don't approve of the government, nor most of its policies, and you read things that are approving of the government, you're not going to think that's the truth. Personally, I'm more of the persuasion that I'd trust a Greens senator more to tell the truth rather than any other one. But that's just because I'm a dirty hippy.

First things first. I am not a citizen of the US nor the Middle East. I am an Australia who was against my country being involved in this War straight off the bat. So if you don't like that, don't read this. I think this recent issue with the torture and humiliation is reflective of the sheer cultural ignorance and bad administration of the entire affair. And the incredibly bad move of the 'Coalition' that they screwed over the UN. Now we have killers, reservists and bored soldiers in a situation where to improve [i]anything[/i] you need well-trained police forces. Armies are designed to destroy, not police. The longer they stay in there the worse it will get. George Bush Snr. said it best in 1998; [indent]To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day hero? assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerrilla war. It could only plunge that part of the world into even greater instability.[/indent] Given, they found Saddam's hidey-hole, but he's right about the instability. These actions they make in the name of "Anti-terrorism" whilst happily funding the Saudi's expansion of Wahhabist doctrine (the doctrine behind most Radical Islamist Terrorism) makes this whole song-and-dance an empty sham, and I hate to tell US citizens out there, has made you and your people in these areas bigger targets (ie- they get beheaded like that poor guy recently). The terrorists go for foreign interests in predominantly Muslim countries (such as the hushed-up bomb attack in Saudi Arabia lately) because the great evildoers who must be destroyed are [i]not[/i] infidels. The infidels are simply a side-project to their bigger mission against [i]apostates[/i] who are the most hated by this certain branch of Islam. The apostates are the ones who do deals with infidels, who corrupt Islam whilst still "pretending" to be Muslims, or those who de-convert. They have the perfect belief system set up so that the more you interfere with their areas, the more you will attract individuals who are part of this doctrine to fight against you. [quote]This has nothing to do with wether we wanted war or not. The majority of out population still want the war.[/quote] I never get these kinds of statements. Even if it was true, who cares? Has anyone asked the Iraqi's if [i]they[/i] approve of their country being invaded by a bunch of incompetent US soldiers and economist administrators (Paul Bremmer is a moron. Period. You [b]do not[/b] get up in front of International TV when you are in such as position as that and act like a 16 yr old who just scored a touchdown). If I was an Iraqi woman in the country at present, I would be very non-approving, since now I could barely walk the streets without fear of kidnapping, rape, or murder (and before anyone makes cultural assumptions, the words from their own mouths are "This never used to happen when Saddam was in power. We could walk the streets at 2 am and not be afraid". Don't believe me? [url=http://hrw.org/reports/2003/iraq0703/]Read [/url]the [url=http://www.hrw.org/update/2003/07/#4]reports[/url] yourself). I'll say it again, Police, not Military, is desperately needed.

Oh, wow, I thought this was a legitimate thread, not a conversion attempt. :rolleyes: They seem to get in everywhere, don't they?

I mean it people. These are at a temporary image hosting site that people use for things like Ebay images n stuff. So they're not permanently hosted. They may disappear in a little while, so grab em while they're there. Inbetween doodling stuff (see [url=http://childofministry]Technosophy[/url] also in my sig) I make wallpapers, mostly from Manga & promo artwork I find around. I like clean wallpapers compared to busy ones, so these have a lot of negative space in them Anyway, if you want them, take them. The Peacemaker ones are done from bits of the scanlations I have, and the Minekura ones are from artwork you can find anywhere around online. They are all 1024 x768 and near perfect quality JPEGS. Just click on the descriptions and it should take you to the images. Peacemaker Walls: [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/tetsuxsuzuwall.jpg] Tetsu and Suzu wall[/url] (edited cover of Vol 3 Kurogane) [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/threeplusone.jpg] Souji, Shinpattsan, Sano and Saizou![/url] (Shinsengumi Imon manga vol 2 prt 1 art insert) [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/hijieye.jpg] Pseudo-Hijikata with an eyepatch [/url](Kurogane Art Insert, end of Vol 1) [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/pmkurosiwall.jpg] Ryouma Sakamoto, Catwhore and Tetsu.[/url] (edit job on a couple of art-inserts in Kurogane volumes) Minekura Walls: [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/plushiecomforting.jpg] Saiyuki boys & Scratch Rabbit. [/url] [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/busgamer.jpg] Bus Gamer wall I made. [/url] [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/playtime1.jpg] Another Bus Gamer one[/url] (I love the violent little boys...) [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/taberu.jpg] Hungry Goku. [/url] [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/redsunderthebed.jpg] Chinese-style Goku and Sanzo [/url] [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/plushiefudge.jpg] Ni-Jiyeni plushie-weirdness[/url] (warning, not for kiddies) [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/sinnerorsaint.jpg] Hakkai wall. [/url] [url=http://www.pix8.net/files/samurai.jpg] Random Minekura-Samurai artwork one. [/url] Most of these were taken from the galleries [url=http://bane-huntress.co.uk/OffLicence/saiyuki.html]here[/url]. Good site, lovely scans, especially her Wild Adapter/Araiso stuff. I hope someone enjoys them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Hmm, very nice. I actually like your colouring, though it's simply done. What do you use for your work & colouring? The only issue is the left leg looks a bit strange, folded forward/under like that, though I do get the kind of pose you were going for.

Hmm. I really don't know, but let me put it this way. I've never really found a character that I could say "they're a lot like me" in manga or anime. The only thing that ever came close was Daria. They started calling me Daria at the end of High School because I was so much like her. Which was kinda fun, cos I liked the show and all. Pop-culture wise it has to be Molly from Gibson's books (for those of you who have been deprived of good literature and haven't read them, she's the character that inspired Trinity, and every other hardcore-girl in SF stories). I will screw you up if you screw with me, even if I don't have 10 cm retractable blades under my fingers. Closer to Manga or anime it's would be something like the Dark Lady/Red Queen concept you find in characters like Anthy Himemiya. Though sometimes I can get a horrible programmed martyr-complex manifesting a bit like Tastunosuke from Peacemaker (*blames it on her bloody stupid Catholic upbringing -_-;; *).

Usually at a site such as this I'd be posting under "The Anime Schoolgirl" but the character-limitation prevented me here. So no schoolgirl-pseudonym this time. Adora is another pseudonym I use regularly. I pilfered it from the Magna Carta game by Softmax. Adora was just a really cool character, and I liked the name. For the record, I don't nor ever have liked the Smashing Pumpkins (since some smart-alec always asks).

Okay *cough* now that I've set the right cookie acceptance, hopefully my post won't get deleted again. Um, Anyway, I love the stuff. Shounen Ai, Shoujo Ai, Yuri, Yaoi, June, and if there is a female equivalent of June, whatever that is. I've read a bit about the phenomenon too, so when guys ask "Why do chicks look at it?" I find it a little easier to explain to them why, though usually they get bored and walk away by the end of it. I think the psychology and gender issues behind it is interesting as well, but I've always had a passing interesting in gender and sexuality studies, so yeah. For me it's part of that, as well as being a fan. As for series and couples, there's quite a few I like. At the top of my list now, being fed by my Peacemaker habit, is Hijitaka x Okita, and it's kosher too (yay!). The constant because Utena is my favourite anime of all time is Utena x Anthy. They're just beautiful together. A not-quite-as-kosher one I've always liked is Subaru x Kamui (c'mon, NO ONE does someone's tie up that close unless there's something going on). Also, in the realm of cuteness is Satoshi x Daisuke from DNAngel. They're so adorable. For some real mangas on the topic, stuff like Hanazaki to Kimtachi E, and the recently released Queerie Faerie (I think that's what it was called, the original Japanese title was Ghost! anyway), and if you prefer the more *cough* [i]Mature[/i] stuff, authors like Kazuya Minekura (Titles: [i]Stigma[/i] and [i]Wild Adapter[/i], though I think Stigma is better ) who did Saiyuki (which has a bit of shounen ai between Gono - Hakkai's previous incarnation- and Gojyo), and the brilliant Kazusa Takashima (amazing art, though I'm not sure if I can plug her website since her stuff is very sexual too) are brilliant. Also Kiss Me Kill Me seems to have a bit of gender bending in it as well. But yeah. Anything where you have a lot of male characters is going to get ai'ed or yaoi'ed whether you like it to or not. Whilst I'm kind of neutral on the Tenisu no Oujisama manga (I haven't seen the anime) there are some bloody brilliant ai and yaoi doujinshi's out there (several of which I own). Ryouma is such a perfect little uke, there's nothing much a corrupt perverted gal like myself can do except lock him in a room with Oishitari (ahh, one day, someone will string me up for that one). Same thing goes for Gundam Wing and for a non-Japanese title, I think Harry and Draco are so cute together, even though I hate the Harry Potter books & movies :devil:. The number things are cute too. I once saw a Peacemaker site that had "2+8=10" on it and couldn't work it til I figured the Captain's numbers of the characters. What you've got here is Shinpattsan (Second Unit Captain) x Harada Sanosuke (Eigth Unit Captain) plus a bit of Toudou Heisuke on the side (Tenth Unit Captain, I'm sure Nanae Chrono did that on purpose!). Made me giggle, like the Gundam boys and all. But then there is the WRONGNESS which appears sometimes, and I want to scrub from my eyes. Like Cid x Vincent. Wtf was with that? I never understood it at all. Couples which are really wrong like that - straight, gay and otherwise- weird me out, and aren't good fandom.