No, I don't have a girlfriend. No, I've never had a girlfriend. No, I'll likely never have a girlfriend. Yes, the balance of probability is that I'll live out the rest of my life alone and unloved, save for the escapist fantasies conjured up by my desperate mind.

That still doesn't mean that I can't wish other people a happy Valentine's Day. You don't have to spend lots of money, although I'm aware that's what retailers are hoping. I'm pretty sure that if it's a love worth having, then whoever it is you're with will be more than happy that you're simply spending time with them.

Meanwhile, I can enjoy the plethora of pics released for this occasion, like on every other. I don't mind that I'm alone on a day meant for couples, and I don't even mind that I dislike chocolate (give me vanilla every time), since it gives me a chance to ogle cute anime girls doing stuff. I'm easily satisfied like that.

Not quite an anime topic, I realize, but it is tangentially related to anime, a distant cousin whose exact relation to anime is not quite clear, but nevertheless has Something To Do with anime in a curiously definite way. It is related, it is influenced, it is inspired, it may even be esque.

I've been marathoning all three seasons of Avatar The Last Airbender, and I have to admit that it is Good. I haven't yet pinned down exactly why it is Good, but it entertained and interested me, which is Good Enough. I can understand its popularity now, and I am at least leaning towards being a fan, if not especially keen on joining the fandom. If nothing else, there is always the appeal of Original Characters in fanfics: it's always fun to come up with characters wielding the powers of the elements, albeit more classical than periodic.

It is intriguing that I keep hearing that it's "like anime". If I were flippant, I could make a big deal about how anime is simultaneously seen as a sign of Serious Storytelling and mere Tentacle Porn, but that is so inaccurate it makes my head hurt, and I would rather not inflict that piece of stupidity on anyone else. (Instead, I'll inflict other stupid stuff.) If I had to guess, I'd say that the art style, particularly in the large eyes, are what makes it "like anime". And yet I get the impression that others believe in some undefinable quality, some mystical aether, which suffuses anime, or at least anime that others (not being, like myself, members of Creepius Fanboius) would admit to watching to, and which Avatar and shows like it have deigned to partake of.

It is a mystery.

On another note, despite her sometimes abrasive personality, I find the title of "favourite character" to be pretty much owned by Rock Loli Toph. Possibly because, as I've mentioned on my Twitter, every time she pokes a rock, I expect her to yell "BAKUSAI TENKETSU" or something.

Like most sci-fi anime which deals with Adventures In Space!, Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo is set towards the softer side of the science, while still retaining a healthy dosage of technobabble, such that I am unable to follow more than the absolute basics without some sort of Cliff's Notes. There are lengthy expositions on how the Great Big Cannon (possibly needing spheres of metal to function) is symbolically Large and Powerful, while not one line is uttered regarding sound in space.

And that's all right, since Hard Science Fiction is often too unyielding for my squishy brain to process, made much squishier by the inevitable fatigue state I am in when I get around to watching my anime. I'm not looking for hard science; I just want entertainment. Later I may wax sesquipedalian about the holes in the theories, especially if the series interests me enough to write fanfic about it, but that's another blog post.

Of course, I'm watching this only because I gravitate towards any anime with a healthy dosage of humour and cute girls. The sci-fi genre is a nice bonus, as I let my brain skim over any new concepts the anime sees fit to implement. Most of these serve little functional purpose, save to advance the plot, or provide a means for character development of some sort.

Having said all that, I'm almost certain that Leopard's campy antics and all the phallic imagery is at least somewhat intentional. Trying to find a suitable title for this post proved more difficult than I expected, due to a surfeit of options, none of which are remotely suitable for a PG-rated blog.

Came across this Kannagi screenshot when I was clearing out my Miscellaneous Screenshots folder.

I can only assume that this is either some sort of biting social commentary, or an injoke.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
On the aniblogosphere
When I look at the calendar date
I think of events of late
With no idea what I'll blog about next year

It's beginning to get quite close to Christmas
You can plainly see
I've filked this song today
Because everyone runs away
When I sing off-key

Posts like Twelve Days of Christmas and I'm frankly remiss in not starting one of my own
Or Year in Review if I had something new to say apart from what is known
There are so few good anime this year, we whine
Let's hope things get better for year 2009

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Even if we have no snow
And yet I have to seek
My quota of two posts per week
A pretty pic is all I have to show

I'll continue to watch a lot of Christmas
For that delicious festive mood
It's an easy choice to make
When I see that Christmas Cake
She makes Christmas all good.

This Saturday, I shall be headed to Anime Festival Asia 2008 in order to hopefully do something remotely related to anime.

Truth to tell, the primary reason I am going in the first place is for the chance to meet fellow bloggers, especially considering Singapore appears to be disproportionately represented in the Anglophone anime blogging scene. I have yet to figure out the reason for this, since every time I bring the subject up, the discussion quickly descends into snarkiness, sarcasm, and general unhelpfulness.

I wish to meet my fellow Singaporean bloggers to determine if it is true that their offline, Real Life personas are not as abrasive as their online ones. Because damn you people can be nasty.

If you should find yourself there, I am not sure how you may be able to recognize me among the teeming crowds. If there is anything to do with blogging and bloggers, I shall likely be there, since of all the Featured Content trumpeted thus far, none have really piqued my interest: I have no interest in May'n or Ichirou Mizuki, largely because I am unfamiliar with the source of their fame. I am not a competitive gamer by any means (those familiar with my postings on the CoH/V boards will remember my intense dislike of anything resembling PvP), and so the various arcade-gaming competitions aim outside my demographic. I am, as the title of this blog should describe, one of those plebeians who likes the influx of moe-blobs that have inundated the realm of popular anime in recent years, and so the suspiciously psychadelic gruesomeness of Studio 4C's Genius Party is likely to be anathema to my tastes. (I'll still check it out, but I'll not stay long.)

This does not leave a lot of anime festivities for this anime lover to participate in.

Then again, I heard u liek mudkips that various anime will be screened… sometime. Somewhere. I don't know where, since there is nothing resembling a timetable on the AFA site, although I could just be blinded by the OMG BLINKING PICS. Still, Shakugan no Shana and Tora Dora may be in existence, however briefly. Maybe.

If all else fails, I can make one circuit of the festival resisting the temptation of swag (after Mass Effect, Spore, Fallout 3, Command and Conquer Saga, The Witcher, and Sins of a Solar Empire, my budget for this year is well and truly drained). I have this faint hope that the heavens will turn their favoured face to us, and provide us Singaporeans with a veritable cornucopia of bishoujo games. I do not even ask for the ero version of these treasures; just the ones with the original Japanese voices (since I do not trust the voice acting industry for these games outside of Japan), all-ages version.

When I get tired of it all, I may depart to the Arts House, Earshot Cafe, to continue salvaging my NaNoWriMo. Or something.

The astute reader may note that all this is making it increasingly unlikely that I will be blogging AFA 08 at all, apart from this. This is also because my camera does not work, so I am stuck with either using my cellphone (with space for maybe three photos) or my Eee PC's webcam, meaning that you may spot me by looking for the idiot holding an Eee PC trying to take webcam pictures.

Apart from that, I shall be wearing a shirt that may render me invisible. No, really; it's a shirt with "Shirt Of Invisibility +2″ written on it. I have the feeling that this may backfire.

So it goes.

Where Beauty is the Beast.

A little late for Halloween, at least from my time zone. I've been spending the last few hours preparing for the month-long mad rush for fifty thousand words that is NaNoWriMo. I pretty much had to, considering I am going into this with almost no preparation whatsoever.

One wonders what the moe-fied anthropomorphic personification of Writers' Block would look like.

You may have noticed a disturbing lack of substantial posts in recent times. While I'm not going to regale you with excuses, I'll just reiterate that this does not, in any way, mean that I'm giving up on this blog. This is because I am thoroughly and frighteningly stubborn, even after it is made abundantly clear that something is a Bad Idea.

A part of it is that I've not actually been watching a lot of bloggable anime, which is a distinct case from watching anime period. I watch quite a lot of Hidamari Sketch x365, for example, but I can't find anything to say about it.

And while I enjoy the recent anime seasons, it's more a kind of passive enjoyment. Nothing has quite managed to fire up my Burning Blogger Spirit, or whatever equivalent imagery there may be. I just watch, enjoy, and… that's it. My brain runs empty on inspiration. This overall apathy is why I end up making plenty of bad comics.

Maybe I just need more sleep, or something. Trying to keep the hours normal people do isn't all it's cracked up to be.

One day I should dig out my books on Romance of the Three Kingdoms and compare it to Koihime Musou, just for kicks.