Archive for the ‘viewing’ Category

August 28th, 2008 streetview your life

i left new south wales for perth when i was nine, looking out the airplane window thinking this was the last time i’d see the land there. i’m twenty-seven now, and don’t have the same urge to return that i used to. but after i found that google street view was good for driving directions, i got thinking to look at some of the old places i lived at. we usually stayed a couple of years at each house, moving to a new house and changing schools (i attended about five primary schools).

i lived in this double storey when i started school, and my best friend lived in the next street. we built this house, and dad got landscapers to do the garden beds. but that’s twenty years ago! so i was suprised to see the front yard still so well kept. i can still mentally walk myself through the house and the garden…

but then i went to dig a comparison photo out. and realised that as much as i hate to admit it, my memory fails me. badly. if it weren’t for photographs and diary keeping…

geez. i was totally convinced. the imposter house is similar, but garage and driveway side is reversed. i think that’s how i really want to remember the area i lived in, well kept and not like the brown brick dump it seems now. afterwards i asked mum if she remembered the address, i was able to pinpoint the actual position:

totally shithouse landscaping now. green rolling grass bumps. i’m tempted to send this to dad, but i might spare him the agony of good work undone.

April 28th, 2008 the best & the worst manga ever*

*completely subjective, and not taking into account the future, of course.

i managed to obtain a copy of ohikkoshi by hiroaki samura from a kind soul on bookmooch, being too insolent to purchase a copy from amazon. boy, i ripped through the whole thing over two days commuting to and from work. about 250 pages of lovely artwork, twisted jokes and crazy heroines. a helpful notes section explains references to chiaki, nauusicaa, and inoue yosui.

some sidestories about a crazy japanese/italian guy out to revenge his mother, but hates instant noodles; a slightly evil manga editor, and a band with funny song lyrics. and the picture above makes it look like a gore fest, but it aint. bambi is the real blood and guts, but it doesn’t have the plot ohikkoshi does. and did i mention the artwork?

and for the loser in this pair, it would have to be yoshinaga fumi’s garden dreams. it was a new item at the library, so i thought i’d try to get some shoujo into me. but when it got to this line, it had me almost spitting my water out:

no stealing names of real french actors for your medieval romance! i did finish it after a while, but laughing all the way through at the strange gay undertones (she does yaoi as well in other volumes) and mostly ridiculous storyline. ah well…