laceblade

So, a while ago I had read online that guava juice can help reflux (I Google these things b/c doctors are less than useless).

I looked at many grocery/health stores for months, and never found any.

But Saturday night, while out to eat in a Thai restaurant, I spotted it on the menu & ordered it. IT TASTED GOOD BUT BEST OF ALL IT DIDN'T BURN AT ALL, NOT EVEN A LITTLE, FOR THE WHOLE GLASS OMG.

So. I am now determined to buy myself some guava juice (I can literally have no other juice besides Naked's Protein Zone, which is hella expensive). And, actual juice: I can't have citric acid, which gets added to most juices -_-

The point of this post is to ask locals: Have you ever seen guava juice for sale ANYWHERE?!
It occurs to me that I haven't checked the Asian groceries for this specific item, but I thought I'd ask.

ETA: After a brief memory-jog, I think that papaya juice is the one I'd actually quested for a year ago, and I know I've seen guava juice. Either way: SUCCESS! *stockpiles*

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I finally fucking made it to campus's Studio Ghibli series. Yesterday, they screened Castle in the Sky.

I had only ever seen the English dub, with Mark Hamill & James Van Der Beek & Anna Paquin, and the dub is not great.

IT IS SUCH A BETTER MOVIE SUBBED OMG.

I'm really glad I went, and very much looking forward to next week, when they're showing Only Yesterday, which has never been released in the US and is SO FREAKING GOOD.

Ponyo is available streaming on Netflix right now.

It's the dub version, but Ghibli dubs are good, and I particularly liked Tina Fey's performance as Sosuke's mom.

"Ponyo" is not my favorite film made by Studio Ghibli, but saying that is like saying, "It's not my favorite of this group of BEST MOVIES EVAR."

Sosuke is a boy who is sometimes more mature than his mother. He doesn't cry when his father stays out working for a few days, and at the age of five, he already knows how to signal complete sentences on a beacon light to passing ships.

Ponyo is a goldfish who wants to be a human. Her presence in each scene gives the audience representations of pure joy, pure love, and pure confidence. I wish I could be like Ponyo!

The movie is basically a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid."

( Spoilers! )

I guess my main critique of the movie is that the plot moves a bit slowly, but I happen to like watching scenes in Ghibli films that simply show the characters functioning in their houses, or quietly sharing a meal.

In conclusion....go support quality anime movies being played in American theaters! Ponyo made a good showing this weekend, but you can help it! I think that this is the most widely-released anime film in the U.S. in terms of how many theaters it's playing in.

And if any of you are looking for good entry points for anime, I highly recommend beginning with films made by Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Whisper of the Heart, Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service, etc.)

I am so damn tired. What the hell. Lest I expound for paragraphs about my day, I will use a bulleted list.

What I Did Today
--Went to work. Less co-workers today. Actually had to work. WTF.
--Left work early (didn't take a lunch) to go to bookstores for textbooks.
--All of the bookstores were useless. One didn't allow me to copy down what books where on the shelf for one of my classes because they were unpacking things from boxes, and "working." I'M PRETTY SURE WHEN I'M WORKING, I'M NOT A JACKASS ABOUT IT AND FORGOT ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE, KTHX. I have no idea where one of my English professors is having his books sent, because they were not at any of the bookstores. Some of us like to hunt down good deals at used bookstores! Bastards.
--Went to the post office. Spent lots of money. Gave them packages that aren't supposed to go to our address.
--Dropped off prescription at Walgreen's. Was stupid, and forgot health insurance card, and will have to return tomorrow.
--Made and ate dinner while watching Angel. OMG, Angel and Buffy are so good (seasons 2 and 5, respectively). I love Buffy season 5 much more than 4, so far. I think Angel also does much better when there is an over-arching plot.
--Went to Qdoba so I could see Antoine (who was eating dinner), and his new book, and show him how I got the complete Princess Tutu series in the mail today (OMG SO GOOD).

Blahhhh. I'm supposed to be doing things, like job-searching, or possibly caring enough to figure out what the eff I'm doing after I graduate. I suck. Maybe I'll just go to bed at like, 9pm. Fucking a, it already is 9pm. No wonder I'm tired!

Anyway. I need to close windows, and there are lots of things I'm too lazy to write up my own thoughts about, so links are what you get!

Last night, I watched Jane Austen's Persuasion on PBS, and am wondering if the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show is worth watching. I mean, Summer Glau being in it is almost reason enough in itself, as is the fact that Battlestar Galactica's composer Bear McCreary is doing the music, but comments are welcome!

An essay on recent book-to-movie adaptations, namely Beowulf and The Golden Compass. The writer thinks both films were brilliant, while I'm inclined to disagree. I've already written at length about Beowulf. I saw The Golden Compass last week, and overall, I enjoyed myself immensely, although I still feel the book is vastly superior. I also think that it was a hugely stupid decision to chop off the book's ending. Many think they're saving it for a second movie, but....I think the film may have been more successful with the big-bang ending that's in the book.

Speaking of book-to-movie adaptations. My friend Angela and I watched the BBC's recent remake of Jane Austen's Persuasion on PBS last night, and it was decent. I was not a fan of jiggly camera work, the rushed ending, or Anne Elliot's intense camera-gazing that occurred every 10 minutes, but it was okay. Also, Anthony Stewart Head (Giles, from Buffy) was a hilarious baronet, and made anything sucky worth it.
A gratuitous picspam of the entire movie, with commentary.
A scathing review!

An interesting article about young evangelicals embracing Mike Huckabee as their presidential candidate.

Promo material for the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica has surfaced, namely with a Last Supper-esque picture of various characters. You can see it here, although be warned that the commentary by Ron Moore in the magazine scans are very spoilery for seasons 1-3! The empty cup and opened/closed books intrigue me. Rampant speculation by fans can be read here and here.

This reminds me that I've still never blogged about what I thought about Battlestar Galactica: Razor. For now, you can read lyda222's thoughts here, mostly pertaining to the way the show addresses queerness (Major spoilers for Razor and season 2).

On Saturday, I watched the Whisper of the Heart movie (Studio Ghibli) with Antoine and his roommate, and I remember how much I loved it. It might be my favorite Ghibli movie, but I'm not sure. I identify very strongly with the main character. It is so sweet, and amazing! Everyone should watch it!

Sometimes, lists help. Let's see if they do!

Things I'm Stressing About
--Anime Club needs fliers to post around campus. I have no skillz and no time. But it's looking life if I don't do it, nobody will. :/
--I need to change my bedsheets. Okay, I guess that's pretty easy.
--The senate is in session tomorrow. Not sure how lunch-eating works into all that, :/
--This career/job stuff is freaking me out like none other.
--Last semester, I took a shower at night instead of in the morning (morning being when I did it for the other 20 years of my life), but since Saturday, I've been doing it in the mornings and having better hair days. THIS IS A TOUGH DECISION.
--I have no idea what to wear tomorrow. Matching an outfit to our ugly blue blazers that are mandatory on session days is pretty tough.

I think blogging works better when I make smaller posts more frequently.

tl;dr my ass

Part of what sucks about not blogging as often as I'd like is never posting all of the links I come across in a day of Internet-browsing that I think are interesting enough to put into a blog entry. So, today you will actually get to see them!

This evening, I went to a History lecture given by Chad's Roman History professor on "the real 300." I haven't seen the film based on the Frank Miller comic yet, but I plan to. Here's a Newsweek review, where you can also watch a preview. Speaking of Frank Miller....I'm almost done with the first volume of the Sin City comic, rented from the campus library. I really feel like his stuff works better as movies than as graphic novels. The bridge between comics and movies/TV series is weird like that. Some art styles and stories simply work better as comics, and some work better as anime series. Weird.

The next Studio Ghibli films have been announced. They both appear to be original series. Does anybody know when the Ghibli version of 'Tales of Earthsea' is going to be released in the U.S.?

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson is throwing his hat into the 2008 presidential race. The only thing I can think of when I think of Tommy Thompson is every time I ever rode past the Wisconsin state Capitol in the car with my dad because he would say, "You see that building? The governor works there. I know the governor! He used to come into my uncle's drugstore when I worked there. He knew my name."
So. If nothing else, my dad will be pleased.

And lastly, this is very random, but today's Wikipedia featured article is....Final Fantasy VII. :D