Oguri Shun

Contrary to what Guido thought, Oguri-kun is not an anime but a person. He's a young Japanese with quite a good lineup of work as supporting but quite good characters. He's this guy:



Twenty-four years old, he's been acting for several years, and although I've never really noticed until this week, I've actually been watching him and his work for a bit of a while now. I like how he fits all the characters he portrays, and that he gets to play such a variety of characters as well from a young samurai to a wanna-be gangster to a rich heir in love to a poor hearing-impaired school boy and many more roles. He just... I dunno, somehow perfectly and seamlessly plays each character realy well. This week actually turned out to be a Oguri Shun fest for me.

Watched Azumi and Azumi 2 again where Shun-kun acted as Nachi and Ginkaku respectively. He had such a short role in the first Azumi movie, so seeing him again in the second film, although his character died yet again, was a relief. He did have more airtime in the second film after all ^_^

He was just so cool in Gokusen where he played Uchiyama. I watched the season 1 special again, and I still miss the golden hair he sported during the entire series. Uchiyama’s hair was black with a few highlights in the special. Somehow he looked tamer heheh, well at least he’s waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better looking than the animanga Uchiyama.

Then I finished downloading and watched Densha Otoko. Of course it was rather frustrating to watch Densha Otoko if you’re just waiting for Oguri Shun to show up on screen. Good thing I ended up liking the story. I remember now that I watched the play version of Densha Otoko on WOWOW several months ago. So that’s why the title sounded so familiar...

In Hana Yori Dango (the jdrama), Oguri Shun played Hanazawa Rui. Somehow he’s a lot less stiff than Vic what’s his name of the Taiwanese F4/Meteor Garden. They look too different for me to compare though I appreciated the jdrama more than Meteor Garden coz it’s more faithful to the manga than Meteor Garden ever was. At least now the setting’s correct, the whole gang’s in high school rather than college, and there are a lot of other details that are there that weren’t in MG.

I just finished watching Summer Snow. My eyes still hurt a bit from crying. Although I somehow knew from the start that one of them was going to die, and that I was actually anticipating that something like that was going to happen, the way they delivered it still was so touching enough that although I knew that this was how the writers would end it I still ended up crying my eyes out and emptying my tissue box. *sigh* Out of all the jdrama’s and films I mentioned above I’d recommend this first. It really is a must to watch. And although Oguri Shun’s again a supporting character he was still so loveable in this series; and he really did his character justice and so far of what I’ve been able to watch of his work his character in Summer Snow was the best.

Still waiting to finish downloading the jdramas Stand Up and GTO, both with Shun-kun in their list of cast. I plan to watch Stand Up first coz it’s supposed to be a comedy. I need something to laugh about right now.

So anyways, about school and life in general:

We didn’t do much this week except have an exam last Monday, rehearse for a role play on Tuesday, and then perform that role play on Wednesday; watched other groups’ role play on Thursday; got grouped for the Comprehensive Review today (Friday).

Am so relieved that I finally got my monthly period back on the 20th. Not that I was in any danger of getting pregnant or anything of the sort, mind you. It’s just that my menarche is irritatingly irregular. The last one I had was last August. So my hormones are unfortunately imbalanced, meaning my face at times erupts with these tiny pimples that fortunately don’t last very long and don’t leave behind traces of their demise, as well as become easily irritated for no apparent reason at all at any random event, object or person. It sucks. I have to take contraceptive pills just to regulate my menstruation, because if I don’t the interval between the next and the last one would take months. Although some of my profs told me that giving birth to a baby would regulate one’s menstruation and hormones in a more natural way, I have no plans of doing that any time soon. Lolz, no thanks. Pills it is, thank you very much.

Camille, my cousin who lives next door and the younger sister of the twins, has PUD. She’s supposed to undergo endoscopy so they could see the ulceration’s exact location. Although from her symptoms it looks more like gastric ulcer, but we’re still waiting for her doctor’s diagnosis.

We start with our hospital duty next week on Monday. We’re assigned at San Luis District Hospital. We’ll be tailing their Chief Nurse and other heads during the duty so we won’t be handling patients yet. Wonder when we’ll get to be on duty on the OR/DR? I still need several more to complete my cases. Sir Jenel will be our CI for San Luis. Kinda weird seeing him without Sir Farley around. Those two were almost inseparable before...

Anyways, that'll be it for this week's post. I'll post here again on the next weekend.

I'm a total addict

Haa-ah... I can't believe I was able to go to school, study, and still watched this many series in just a bleeding week! But anyways, I did, so here are my comments about each show:

TSUBASA CHRONICLES:

STILL at episode 20. Oh wait! I actually managed not to sleep through 20. Yeah. I remember seeing its ending credits after all. I think. Wait. Err, yeah. I did finish episode 20. I remember dozing off during the OP of episode 21. And I can’t blame anything else for dozing off! The weather wasn’t conjusive for sleeping and I was watching this in the late afternoon so no… this show just makes me go to sleep.

I know I said it was nostalgic seeing the characters and all that but after the first ten or so episodes well, I began noticing things I didn’t like. Oh the art’s good and clean and nice as expected of a CLAMP series, but it’s just absolutely boring! Sakura’s so bloody passive! I miss her personality in CCS. Shaoran’s slightly better but he’s being such a bloody martyr about his situation. Fye’s never wavering smiling face makes me wanna kick him just to see him get serious. Mokona’s cuteness is just... irritating! Kurogane’s like a fighter version of Touya and with his way of sticking with Fye makes me just think that they should have kept Yukito and Touya around as main characters instead of support. Haaaaaaay. And don’t get me started about the long silences between character responses. It’s like literally waiting for their minds’ wheels to turn! I hate hate hate hate hate watching this thing! To think I still have around 30 episodes that I have downloaded and haven’t watched! I almost don’t want to. Almost. But I want to at least finish the first season. Even if I fall asleep every after each episode.


PRETEAR:

Was sappy. Unoriginal. Mushy. Typical Snow White/Sleeping Beauty plot. Kinda corny at times. Did I say it’s sappy? My favorite was Sasame whi was a total bishie though he does tend to invade Himeno’s personal space way too much. And I just wanted to pluck Shin from the screen and hug him very tight coz that kid is just soooooooooo kawaii!!! Kei I wanted to ground into fine powder and bury underneath boiling lava *shrugs* He just rubs me wrong I guess.


ONEGAI TEACHER:

Not worth watching unless you’re a guy after fanservice. It was confusing at best and irritating at its worst parts. Mushy too.


CHOBITS:

Hmmm... it was okay. Not one of my favorites though. Sure Chi’s cute and all, but the characters needing to say so even till the fricking final episode just overdoes it, I think. In a way I love its darkness, but then I hated that the series meandered in most of the episodes then just showed the major stuff in the last 3 or so episodes. Too abrupt, I think. But then it does work so I don’t have that much of a complaint against it unlike Tsubasa Chronicles. And I didn’t fall asleep during watching it, not even once ^_^


TOUCH:


Live action movie version of the baseball animanga Touch. Watched the anime years ago but didn’t get to finish it, so although the story wasn’t something I haven’t encountered before I still ended up crying my eyes out for the main characters. And crying is good. If a film can move me enough to cry while watching it, then it’s great in my book.


GRAVITATION:

Wonder why I watched this again? I just got disappointed. I can understand attraction, but the deeper relationship between Yuki and Shuuichi just lacked any solid basis. Shuuichi is so much like a girl, what with the pink hair and all, that I almost forget that he’s a guy and that this is a yaoi series.


NANA the movie:

Yup. Live action jmovie. Watched it before in WOWOW in raw jap. Loved it. Saw it available for download and well, downloaded it. This copy was subbed and what dialogues I didn’t get from watching in WOWOW I was now able to understand in the copy I have. I still love the songs especially Glamorous Sky and Endless Story. I’m still in the midst of downloading the anime though and haven’t watched a single episode yet. Wonder what the differences in plot are? Hmmm…


AIR:

It was nice though repetitive since they basically retold the story from the start when you get around the middle of the series. My pet peeve is what they did to Yukito. Here you have a perfectly bishie Hateke Kakashi-without-the mask lookalike and what did they do to him? They turned him into a fricking crow who has flying problems. Other than that I’m okay with Air. Liked it even.


KIMI WA PETTO (You Are My Pet):

Yes, the Jdrama. It features MatsuJun of Arashi, and to be honest this is the very reason why I downloaded the entire series and watched the episodes within the span of 6 hours. I just NEEDED to finish watching it once I started. It was just too cute! And gush-worthy hahahahah ^_^ And yes, fine. I’m a MatsuJun fan. I’ve been one since watching Gokusen. It really didn’t take much effort to act as Sawada Shin since Shin’s one dour guy. Momo/Takeshi in Kimi wa Petto was a more difficult character to portray and IMO Jun did the role rather well.


FULL MOON WO SAGASHITE:

Read the manga before and because of that I couldn’t really appreciate the first half of the anime. I kept referring back to the manga for the differences in plot and there were a LOT! And I didn’t expect Mitsuki to have such a low voice. In a way I’m glad she doesn’t. Both the OP themes suck, IMO. They don’t capture FMoS at all. When I first saw the first OP my mind kinda expected something like Kodocha, if I haven’t read the manga first that is. The manga’s a lot darker. Delving into the more painful stories behind the characters. Takuto’s way of dying was a lot more dramatic in the manga for one. What happened to Eichi and how Mitsuki knew of it but still continued to try to fulfill her promise with him is way more heartrending in the manga. The anime didn’t show the relationship between Ooshige and Wakaouji. Nor Meroko’s connection with Mitsuki’s grandmother. Guess they had to keep it a bit more lighthearted. I was literally on more or less uncharted grounds by the time the competition between Full Moon and Madoka for the commercial was done. I half expected Eichi to come back from America or something, good thing they stuck to something close to the manga, but still it was so different and a lot less dramatic and dark than the manga. Loved the ending though. Totally loved it and can’t say anything bad about it. Wai!!! Takuto!!!


ELFEN LIED:

Downloaded this on a whim after seeing the cover art and with no idea what it was about so I was surprised when I played the first episode. I cannot complain about anything about it except that it was so short! Just 13 episodes! Wish they made it the usual 24 or 26 coz that would have given them more air time to tie up several loose ends. But I guess I’m fine as it is. The art and animation is just BEAUTIFUL. I LOVE the OP and ED theme! Chieko Kawabe’s “Be Your Girl” is certainly inappropriate for a series with this kind of plot and theme but somehow its chipper-ness works. Anou... just make sure that you never watch this with kids around. Nudity (of the non-hentai kind, unless your mind is naturally wired that way) as well as copious amount of violence, blood and gore abound. But the story’s good. Did I say I love the OST yet? Heheheh ^_^


Still downloading the titles Jean recommended in her blog. Again thanks for the suggested anime series! I’ll be watching them when I finish downloading the each entire series. Oh and I’m also getting the jdrama Densha Otoko. Wonder if it’s any good though, got any idea?

Impractical

I just spent the entire breakfast listening to Lola Ising rant about her only son's upcoming wedding. Well, church wedding anyways coz he and his bride have already been civilly married since last September and they have a baby on the way. Even before they got married last September, they already were planning for the upcoming church wedding. As far as I've heard, there are to be 40 pairs of sponsors (ninongs and ninangs), 10 flower girls, and a whole phletora of relatives invited. So far, they're anticipating around 300 guests. They're having the reception catered, but since the bride's relatives will come from Bicol, Lola Ising's household have to cater to their needs a day or so before the wedding so that'll be 20 people they'll have to house and feed for around two days. This would all be alright if they had the means to support this... I cannot call it anything else but a fiasco.

Lola Ising is already 70+ years old. She still works as a labandera to feed not only herself, but also her eldest daughter's family coz they live with her - that's Ate Gloria, her husband and three kids - and Kuya Felirey and his wife coz they haven't found a place to live yet. What little is left of Lola's money she pays for her son's debts to other people. Her son, Kuya Felirey, is a public school teacher whose salary is around 12,000/month. He doesn't receive the full amount of that each month because he has debts to pay to numerous people. Lola Ising even has an agreement with one of his creditors to wash and iron their family's clothes twice a week to pay off Kuya Felirey's debts.

And now this so-called wedding is on the works.

Granted that Ate Myra, Kuya Felirey's wife, has her own work and is a civil engineer, that her salary is probably substantial and that she's supposedly the one financing this wedding, but with a baby on the way, loaning money from work, and her already knowing Kuya Felirey's family's financial situation I really truly don't see why she would want to go on with such an expensive and grand wedding ceremony at all.

Everyone who learns about their plans for the wedding are riduculing them behind their backs. Kuya Felirey's colleagues and friends have backed out of participating in the ceremony because they demanded for them to pay around 4000+ for bridesmaid gowns. They're getting around the same salary as him, which isn't much so it's not surpprising that they wouldn't wish to spend a third of that on a gown they'd only wear once. And he even had the gall to tell everyone who asks about how they'll pay for the wedding's expenses that my mom would take care of it coz quote: "hindi naman niya matitiis si Nanay (Lola Ising) e."

My mom got furious when she heard that. She's against them having this grand wedding in the first place, always asking them to cancel their plans coz they would need the money for the baby.

I agree. I don't get it. I simply don't. Why go on with something that would only land you in deeper debts that you wouldn't be able to pay for years? For what? For the memories of a wedding ceremony that would only make your life harder? After the wedding, it's not like the people they invited would pay for their debts. It's not like they'll be there to financially support them, pay for the hospital bills if they ever got sick or in an accident. Those people wouldn't be there to give them food for their daily sustenance. I really don't get it... what's the point of spending so much when you don't have the money to spend?!

It's okay to want something that will leave good memories, and yes fine you only get married once so having a grand and beautiful wedding ceremony and reception would be a dream cme true. But I'd rather be practical. Had I been in their financial situation, I'd opt for something simple, something that would only involve immediate family and a few close friends. I don't want anything grand if it would jeopardize my new family's future happiness. I'd rather save up for a rainy day than use hard earned money for something so fleeting and so seemingly pointless! Especially in their case! They already have a baby coming for crying out loud! A baby! Keeping my child well-fed, healthy and with a roof over his head would be my priority had I been in their shoes. So... dakara... Felirey-san-tachi wa wakaranai yo... hontou ni wakanai yo... I really don't understand them at all.

The Ends

The semestral break has officially ended today since although we haven't started our lessons yet, we were already required to go to school for the reorientation. As usual, the UA Nursing Department did not follow the time they set for the event. Oh yes. They told us to come before 1pm but the reorientation itself started at 2:30pm. Neat, ne? We had a very nice time waiting (and sweating like crazy) at the cramped area outside of the Multipurpose Hall since the place was locked till 2:00. Course they had to ready the place first, chitchat, then try to rearrange the seating to per section which we refused to do since some came late and there were no longer available seats. Had we followed what Sir Kit wanted those who came in early would've lost their places for sure to those who came in tardy. Anyways, they reoriented us to the retention policies, rules and regulations of Nursing yadda yadda yadda... it was a pretty boring hour with lots of sermon and power-tripping c/o Mrs. Santos and a few other C.I.s... bless their soul and may they rest in peace, Amen.

Regular classes will start on Monday from 7:30am till 5pm. Lectures will go on till the 25th, then on the 27th our real schedules will start. Meaning Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays will be spent at the hospital for our Related Learning Experience (aka duty), Wednesdays for the remaining concepts for the Lecture in NCM105, and Fridays, Saturdays AND - take note! - Sundays for the Comprehensive Review for the June Nursing Board Exams. What a super nice schedule I have this semester, ne? Isn't it really cool! I get to spend the whole blessed week at school or at the hospital! Yehey! Wai! Wai! Wai! I'm so happy!!!

... ... ... ... ... ... HELL NOT!!! *grumble grumble grumble*

Anyways, I refuse to rant any further about my schedule for this semester, since I really can't do anything about it. All the 4th years have basically the same scheds with the lecture day as the difference (some sections have Tuesday for their lecture instead of Wednesday, for example). So what else have I been doing?

Downloading anime, of course.

So far I've completed the first season of Tsubasa Chronicles (and watched till episode 20); downloaded all the episodes of Pretear (of which I've only watched episode 1), Chobits (watching episode 12 right now), Gravitation (haven't watched any of the episodes yet), Ouran High School Host Club (finished watching this! I'll elaborate later coz I really wanna talk about this one coz it was just TOO FUN to watch!!!), Chrono Crusade, Onegai Teacher, Hellsing, Air, Saikano (finished watching this as well), and a few more of which I've only downloaded 2 or 3 episodes but plan to complete as well. Oh, and some Studio Ghibli films of which the cd I bought before wouldn't play so I ended up downloading them just so I'd be able to watch the darn things...

Since we are already talking about Ghibli films, let me start with Howl's Moving Castle. Can I just say that I just love Love LOVE LOVE this film?! ^_____^ I especially love Ghibli films that are love stories. My all-time fave Ghibli film is "Whisper of the Heart". Howl's Moving Castle is now my second. To those of you unfamiliar with the story, the film follows the adventures of Sophie, a teenager who works at her late father's hat shop, of how she meets a mysterious wizard, gets cursed by an evil witch, and goes on a quest to break her curse. Of course, I'm having second thoughts about spoiling the story for you so if you plan to watch this film and don't want to be spoiled then stop reading here. Now! Stop!

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Still there? Okay. Turns out the wizard was Howl, himself. The owner of the moving "castle" that wanders around the lands called "Wastes". Howl's archnemesis, the Witch of the Wastes, was the one who cursed Sophie turning her from 18y/o into a 90y/o grandmother. What's worse, Sophie's curse did not allow her to speak about it so she's left to find how to break the curse by herself. She leaves her hometown and ends up getting welcomed at Howl's castle as their new cleaning lady.

What I loved about this film were the symbolism. I found it cute how Howl literally and figuratively swept Sophie off her feet at their first meeting. How her curse reverted her to and fro an 18y/o and a 90y/o woman depending on how she felt: the happier and the more confident she was about herself and her love for Howl the younger she looked while the more insecure she felt about herself and Howl's affections for her the older she got. I love how she never really went back to how she originally looked. Oh she still dressed the same way but her hair showed the main difference; at the start Sophie's hair was long and brown and in a braid, in the end it was burnt short till to her shoulders and turned into silver. I guess it's a way of saying that although she looks young, she has matured a lot from when the film first started.

Howl was uber cute, especially the tantrum scene which I found extremely funny. Another hilarious scene was when Sophie and the Witch of the Wastes were climbing up those stairs weheheheh...

Every time I watch this film - watched it about 5 times now - I always find something new in it, some deeper explanation of certain dialouges or scenes. I doubt I'll tire of watching it anytime soon.


Saishu Heiki Kanojo. Saikano. The Last Love Song on Earth. She: The Ultimate Weapon. This series has so many bleeding names! Yeeech! But dang it to hell. I watched all 13 episodes in one sitting. I couldn't not. I just had to know how it will all end. And like what Robert Wong said when he posted about this anime on his blog, don't ever even think of watching it if you're feeling even just the slightest bit depressed! Nothing in this anime will help you get out of your depression. Multiple character deaths, unrequited love, needless violent war, tons of emotional and mental pain, broken promises... it really is just not for someone already feeling down. I feel bad for Akemi and Atsushi, for Tenchu and Fuyumi... I feel sad for every fricking character in this series! None of them deserve what happened to them, darn it! Yet amidst it all is love. Despite everything that happened, there is the undeniable presence of love. Saikano’s essentially a love story in its most tragic form. *huge sigh* I feel like my heart's going to burst for Chise and Shuugi. Especially Shuugi because... ah heck, go watch it yourself! I don't want to spoil the ending. Just expect it to be sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad !_!


Ouran High School Host Club was just plain HILARIOUS!!! I want more of this series! Isn't there a season 2 or something?! Anything?! Haruhi - being the girl - is my least favorite character although she's the lead hehehe... I like Tamaki coz he's so hopelessly clueless at times. I like Kyouya coz that guy just reminds me of James Xavier Blanco and his being positively and unapologetically money-crazy is just too cool to watch. I love Kaoru and Hikaru coz they reminded me so much of George and Fred of Harry Potter, only they were a little bit more scheming and confused than the Weasley twins. I like Haninozuka and Morinozuka coz they reminded me of Sohma Momiji and Sohma Hatori respectively. Okay fine, Hani-chan's probably Sohma Momiji's long lost twin brother coz even their voices sounded the same (too lazy to check if they have the same seiyuu), but really Hani-chan's cool on his own way too coz he and Mori-kun can seriously kick butt!! Umn, did I leave anyone out? I especially loved the "Cassanova" episode coz that was probably the only time Mori-kun got SD-ed when trying to explain to a crying Hani-chan that he wasn't being "used" mwahahahahahah!!! And of course the ending was just heart-shaped-eyed-turning-long-sighing-heart-flutteringly SWEET ^-^ Especially that scene between Tamaki and Haruhi ^_^ Actually, I sorta HAD to watch this after finishing with Saikano. I needed to find something to laugh about and boy did I find it. I've probably weirded everyone within a 100-meter radius of our house coz I was cackling and snorting and giggling and laughing rather loudly at very ungodly hours of the morning just so I could finish watching all 26 episodes. And it ended really nice, although I couldn't help but wonder who Haruhi will end up with. She seems a lot more interested in Tamaki if you ask me, but then Hikaru and Kyouya are also good candidates, what with Kyouya's dad actually planning to marry Haruhi to his son. Oooops! Was that a spoiler? lolz hehehe...

Like I said, I'm watching Chobits right now while downloading episodes from different anime titles. I got till Sunday afternoon to watch these things then I've gotta go back to my lessons again until the board exams. I guess my being an anime fanatic has not ended after all, it's just been put on hold till I find free time ^-^

Arcadia

Another site with a wonderful art gallery I stumbled upon recently; here are a few of my favorites from the gallery:







Btw, to get to the site, just click the title of this post; the link's in there.

Finding Neverland

I have always hated the fact that I was unable to catch this film on theater when it was shown last year or so, and I could never seem to catch it on television when the cable movie channels aired it some months ago. Well, I've finally been able to watch it by finding my own copy of it. And thank God that I wasn't able to watch it at the movie theater for I'd have come out of that place a horrible red-eyed mess from crying so damn much!

I love love love love LOVE this film.

Maybe because I've loved the story of Peter Pan and almost anything related to it since my early elementary school days. Watching a film based on supposed true events on what inspired J.M.Barrie to write his classical play about the boy who never grew up is just as wonderful as getting a glimpse Neverland yourself. Watching this film made my heart feel heavier and lighter at the same time. I recommend it to those who haven't watched it yet; just bring a lot of tissues with you though ^-^

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMSKI!!!!

*sings the Happy Birthday song to my most favorite roommate* Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday! Happy birthday! Happy birthday to you!!!!

Pasensya na ninakaw ko lang yung pic mo dun sa blog mo, ala akong iba e hehehe ^_^0

Anyways, spent the day going to mass early in the morning to beat the crowd of mass-goers. Then mom and I went to the public market to buy some yellow chrysanthemums coz the flowers we bought yesterday weren't enough for the number of pots I needed to arrange.

Oh okay... they weren't ceramic pots per se. Mom refused to allow me to use the ceramic pots we had so I ended up cutting the bottom of empty 2L cola bottles hehehe... di naman halata e kasi natakpan naman ng mga leaves and flowers, tapos di pa masakit sa loob if nakawin ng iba.

So I ended up arranging five 'pots', two of which were small candle holders made from the bottom of Magnolia Fresh Milk plastic bottles mweheheheh ^_^

Why-oh-why do I keep forgetting to take pictures of these things anyway?! *sigh* In any case, it took me till around noon to finish the arrangements. Ate My and I then went to the cemetery to place them at my grandparents' and sister's gravestone.

Haaaay... my sister Elaine would have been 23 last October 30 if she didn't die. Ah well.

Went home again, had lunch with the nextdoor cousins (the twins). Took another shower, got dressed again and went back to the cemetery with mom for the 'vigil' which didn't take very long because a fight broke out in the cemetery between some gangs wearing all black ensembles and mom got nervous about staying there thinking the fighting might get worse so we went home earlier than planned.

The flesh between my right thumb and index finger hurts from cutting the thick stems of those blasted assorted flowers. The pair of scissors I used weren't that sharp anymore so it took some effort to cut those things *sigh* It was worth the effort anyway coz the flower arrangement turned out nicely (nagyabang daw hahahah!!!)

So that's how I spent All Saint's Day ^_^ Hope you all had a good day, minna!