Long Ramble

You know, it's funny.  If you'd asked me two years ago the state of my anime fandom, I would've been very lukewarm on the subject.  I was stilll enjoying anime, and still going to cons and such, but I hadn't been really *into* the fandom for quite a while.  Sure, I plugged it when it came up at ExIsle, and checked in with the rec.arts.anime.* groups every once in a while, but I didn't expect to ever really get to the point where I was really investing large amounts time (and money) on anime again.

And yet, somehow here I am helping moderate an anime-centric forum (Anime Jumpgate - *plug*plug*, just in case anyone ever reads this.  <grin>) and starting out a reviewer for Anime On DVD  (I'll be going by J.J. Matthews over there.)

It's really cool to feel like I'm actually contributing to a fandom again. 

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Went to see Howl's Moving Castle again the other night.  It just gives me this big smile plastered on my face for the whole movie. 

I'm two volumes into the manga, Diabolo, that Katrina recommended at Jumpgate.  Since there's only three volumes total, I'll wait to review the content, but GAWD are the character designs drool-worthy.  And happily for me, the co-authors each have an artbook out, so I'll have to add those to my want-list.

Speaking of artbooks, I finally splurged for "Soul Driver 2000".  Can't decide if it was worth it or not.  On one hand, I like the Weiss anime designs MUCH better than Kyoko Tsuchiya's versions...but on the other, it's nice to have the book in my collection, completist that I am. :)

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Tried watching Battlestar Galactica again on Friday.  I really *want* to like this series, but I can never sit through more than five minutes at a time.  I think I've decided it's the camerawork that makes it unwatchable for me, since I never see enough at one time to really like or dislike the characters/plot.

Went shopping for Barbie clothes for my niece yesterday.  I remember back in my day, they had a whole wall of Barbie clothes at the toy stores.  Now, the clothes were sort of tacked on a display near one end-cap, with only about ten different outfit options.  My dreams of setting her up with a deluxe wardrobe for Barbie were sadly dashed.  :(