Thoughts of “Death”

Death note is an anomaly.

It’s so-called “protagonist” is a psychopath (or sociopath – whichever term you would like to use – ), who was quite similar to Alex Delarge, from the Anthony Burgess novel “A Clockwork Orange” (which I have yet to aquire). Although the “point” of each story is different. Death Note is a study of several opposing forces, what separates Justice from Murder? “Sanity” and “insanity”, dominance and submission; you name it. I think I like it because it caters to the more unstable aspects of my own personality (although you might say that I am a rather “erratic” person already) - the more “baser” urges (kept at the back of one’s mind for obvious reasons).

I  heard it was banned on some countries due to negative effects.

The story is very “intelligent” in terms of plot and characterization (not too many plot holes are present – as there is no such thing as a “perfect plot”), and reminds me again of Full Metal Alchemist at some point; in terms of rich characters, complicated situations, and a complex argument regarding certain issues.

 To amend my earlier comment on “L” and Raito; these two are definitely not “in love” as most YAOI fans would assert (was browsing the net earlier and came upon an incredibly “fluffy” fansite dedicated to both. gag.) As one website mentioned,

“There is no real gentleness to them. Instead, there’s a heady edge of sexuality in this since L seems to be so much a creature of the sensual realm (his eating particularly) and a feeling of mind games. You want to talk about an emotionally abusive relationship? Look no further. It is a relationship of competition. It is a relationship of equals. It is a relationship where one wrong step equals death. It’s a relationship that is a car crash – you know it’s ugly, but you can’t help staring because it’s interesting.”

SOURCE:http://deathnotes.kefi.org/

Interesting. Yes. Very. 

“L” dying on Raito’s arms was indeed a VERY tantalizing scene. Especially if you include the whole conversation on the rooftop – and don’t forget the “I’ll throw in a massage” – which for some reason initiates a fit of “insane giggling”.

I have not yet read the manga, but I am planning to do so very soon. (written by Tsugumi Ohba – although it is suspected that this is only her pen name, she is rumoured to be mangaka Hiroshi Gamou -  and illustrated by Takeshi Obata – who usually illustrates for manga writers

It’s “L” for Light…

I just have to say this.

The truth is, I don’t normally support Yaoi. But for Death Note, I’ll make an exception. L and Light (or Raito) are far more “compatible” than say, Misa and Light (this one is truly one sided relationship – all the erm…’passion’ is on Misa’s side, and it’s obvious that the psychopathic Light is incapable of giving any form of “normal” affection. Besides, I don’t like Misa’s character at all. Apart from being such an intellectual “inferior” (forgive me, but I believe a healthy dose of intellectual sparring between men and women should be the order) to Light – although she can be shrewd at times – she is “childish” – how many people do you know refer to themselves in third person, eh? – and annoying – i understand she can be quite “useful”, but is the equivalent of a “dumb blonde”. Yes, I thought we might hit that “snag”, I’m having difficulty finishing the anime because of her character. I thought Light deserved a better “partner.”

Going back to Light and L. Theirs is attraction in it’s deadliest form. They are intellectual equals (although “moral” opposites). Kind of reminds me of the mental sparring between Clarice Starling & Hannibal Lecter (L manages to break Light’s normally cool facade.. . I love the tennis match. and a few episodes – been jumping episodes so I can avoid the ones that include Misa – before L’s death, both of them standing in the rain.) – or else Will Graham.

“tit for tat”

Listening To: “Manatsu no Yoru no Yume ” by Shikao Suga (Deathnote Movie Theme)

Watching:“DeathNote” anime

Reading:“Crime & Punishment” by F. Dostoyevsky

WiP: “Harry Potter Trio” portrait

Website WiP:“JediDawn V.6″ (I’m starting to get the feel of coding a webby again. I plan to make this the “grandest” version yet – not this blog, but my official website. I got the interface designed, but a few more details should be added. I particularly loved the colour scheme I came up with)

Been quite busy lately. I was not able to transfer the latest Photo-Manip I made, as of yet. Maybe next week. I’m currently into “Deathnote”. I originally planned on watching 5 episodes yesterday, but due to a sudden attack of “the headache”, I went to sleep after episode 3. Quite an interesting anime, seeing as the “protagonist” fits the description of an anti-hero, at times Light is even more cold-blooded and psychopathic than the criminals he killed. I don’t know whether I should agree with “Light Yagami (or Kira) or with “L”. Since they both claim to be on the side of justice. wahaha. The Shinigami “Ryuk” is really quite funny in a twisted way too. I watched a little of DEATHNOTE live action. “Light” was played by the same guy who played Shuya Nanahara on Battle Royale.

 EXCERPTS FROM MY OTHER BLOG::

Wake me up when September Ends: The month of September has been quite extraordinary for me. Meaning to say it has been very “weird”. I think I may have somehow managed to “jinx” myself. Why?

• One, my Quality Scores at work has been “very low”. 83.33% at one point. It’s a good thing I managed to bring it up to at least 87.33 % before the month ended. Not that I care too much about getting a high score (like some people I know). Frankly, I only care about the money and the last thing I need is an FA (Focus Alert) when I have bills I need to pay. I already have TWO FA’s under my belt last month (one was for Compliance – question: why do I always have to sabotage myself? – Because, I have been “over-breaking” too much. Another was for my AHT (w/c was six seconds behind the standard – can you believe that). I’ve always had trouble with authority anyway (passive-aggressive tactics have always been my specialty).
• Second, it’s about my phone. The company provided one. I know it’s my fault for being thick enough as to forget my own PIN code. But making me wait for three weeks to get my SIM replacement was a bit excessive, don’t you think? I have no idea how SIM cards were made, but I don’t think they include taking it to Mount Doom to be forged by Sauron himself! (That’s the only acceptable reason why it has taken that long). Anyway, I have learned my lesson. My phone does not have a PIN code now, and I won’t put one until I’m sure I can remember the wretched thing, even under duress.
• Oh, and one other thing. I committed a semi-grand “boo-boo” at work. Apparently, something I wrote (I keep a little notepad beside my interface when I take calls, you know) caught the attention of some people within the company (and in a bad way too! Again: question, why do I keep sabotaging myself?) Our QA showed it to me this morning. I perfectly remember making that note – I was in very bad disposition that time. You know I’m always out of sorts with one thing or another, but that day I felt exceptionally cross. So I wrote something to the effect of: I really don’t like this job (w/c is true to some extent – quite pathetic too – because I haven’t got the guts to actually leave right now, since I still need the money. I’m a little too old to be “screwing” around with my artist friends – gone were the days of sitting at the back alley of the municipal hall talking about anything under the sun – that’s the thing I miss the most about them, I could mention Kafka or Tolstoi and not get a weird look -, or staying all afternoon at the stadium, or staying together in the park in the middle of a signal number 2 storm while eating “siomai”) and that I’m glad to be leaving next year, plus I enumerated some of the other jobs I had before (Eperformax is my fourth job). Then there’s the really inappropriate “What is great about humanity? I hope a plague wipes out the whole species!” – yikes! (quoting the guy from ASC) Stupid of me, really. I should keep my thoughts to myself when I’m at work, I know. We don’t want to anger the powers that be.
• Lastly, I get “markdowns” at work for the most trivial matters. It’s been a long standing problem for me. I am my worst enemy, I believe. Sometimes I think it’s either due to boredom or just sheer laziness.

I decided to watch Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 again, finally figured out that I should re-install the K-Lite Codec pack (it appears that my Codec files were a bit old); to solve that annoying “upside-down double screen” problem that I’ve been having whenever I try to play the OGM files. The solution has been lodged at the back of my mind for some time now. I just keep on forgetting it. The Japanese voice-overs were much, much better than the English ones. The most glaring difference lies with the voice of Brian J. Mason. The English voice actor’s rendition was downright horrible! His Mason sounds like a “lecherous sleazebag”, I have no idea how I have come to this conclusion, but those words pop up whenever I hear him speak. The Japanese voice over, however, projects an air of “seriousness”, “menace” and a “tinge of sadness”. The general dialogue pattern is also markedly different, much more “poetic”. 

October 12-13, 2007 

They’ve got to be f*ckin kidding me! Another major “disaster” has occurred at work. A FINAL WRITTEN WARNING was issued because I was not able to follow the AHT requirement for my tenure (97 days = 4:40 standard). I’ve always hated these “measuring” instruments in corporate environments. So why am I working for this company? Seeing as I, well, not really me, but rather my very “nice” call center alter-ego, Elizabeth, have been called “garbage” by some quasi-person from the middle of nowhere. But perhaps, I should take pity rather than hate the “poor soul” who could not vent somewhere else. I also encountered two exceptionally “thick” personalities (I am practically in “awe” that they can BE that thick and continue to survive!) First, was a man who, no matter how much I modified my explanation about the Default APR, continues to claim that he does not understand! Now I know how talking to a wall, or else a black hole would be like. I spent about 15 minutes (to the detriment of my AHT) trying all manner of what I believe would have been qualified as “layman’s terms”, short of using “stone-age” language. If I could only grab his head and transport the images from my brain to his, like computer data transfer, then I believe we would have understood each other. But sadly, the call ended with him not understanding one iota of the lengthy and vividly described argument I gave him (I try to explain things as short and concise as possible, but when all else fails, I expound further on the subject.) But “astonishingly”, neither tactic worked!  

Second, was a woman whom I spent 20 minutes with going, literally “back and forth” about the terms of her “convenience check”; It is something I have explained a dozen times before, and has been understood right from the very beginning by everyone else! She even accused me of “compounding” things (moi?!) , in the middle of my explanation regarding the computation of the “interest rate” (the rate for the check is 1.99F, and she wanted to write one for $29,925 – we even had a hard time with something as simple as a “one-time” fee of $75.00 for using the check – )