Banner (II)

Well, how could the little brother ask what a Neopet is doing in the banner of our blog? I mean - as if he didn't know I'm quite a fan, and try to visit daily and all. Tut tut, you traitor. It's ok if you are busy and can't pop in, but ooooh dear, what's that of denying it thrice before the cock crow??? Alas! Hmm, no, wait, I got it wrong. It was just once. I'll spare you this time. There.
I hadn't noticed Suzaku in the manga - was too busy looking at all the beautiful men around (mainly, but not exclusively, at Soryu). Yep, even that strange image of a half-naked Toda while imprisoned for his rebellious, violent behaviour. A very strange, albeit amusing image - I'll see if I remember to scan it one of these days. I mean, it must have been cold at that place, phew. I've recently bought the last volume and am still flabbergasted at the idea of being left SO in the dark about everything. Where's Muraki? Is he really human? What's Tsuzuki - a demon, a scientific experiment, a remarkable human? And what about Hisoka? And his exquisite dad? And his mum's twin? and her mysterious, monstruous, two year pregnancy? And Wataru's sex change formula (lol)? And what did Hisoka really mean by "Baka, if you have nothing to live for, then live for me!" *watery-eyed just from remembering* Hmmm. Aren't we getting any more fluffy confessions? Oh dear.
I feel so frustrated. Adieu to Matsushita's sensei delightful artwork. *Sob* And the story was getting soooo interesting!
So, okies, expect a summary of my fav scenes one of these days. I should find the time to choose them first. But I really should. A homage to one of my greatest fav mangas ever.
Oh and yes, I'm so keen on Yuu Watase of late. And yep - I loved "beautiful man" Hotohori. I mean, yikes, crivens, ye gods. He was awesome. Or he would be, if he were real, of course (surely you thought I had forgotten the fact, uh?!). Koyasu was the voice actor too. He's quite good too - very pleasant voice, great acting. Yup.
About Full Moon wo sagashite - more in a few days. I know it's going to end a real tear-jerker. Nice story - art not bad, only somewhat average for so popular a series.
So far so good. I really, really should be in bed. Have lessons to teach tomorrow, and lots of reading (not manga, mind you, Ph.D, but just as amusing, me being such a textual omnivore).
And there goes a little illustration. Hotohori is that dark, long-haired beauty on the left. Not his best, but it is a favourite piece of art of mine.

Fitting, I suppose?

You're Nagi Naoe!

I don't quite know the guy, but he seems the Local Computer Weirdo.

I guess it's fine then.
:shrug?:

The slightly dysfunctional Weiss Kreuz Quiz
brought to you by Quizilla

Banner

Oh, almost forgot to tell about the banner. Sis made it, actually.

Let's see... there's:

• Guu from "Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu". Watch it if you can, it's hilarious.
  
  
• Shippo from Inuyasha. It's from Rumiko Takahashi, after all.
  
  
• Sakura from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, who is really from CardCaptor Sakura. Which is a pretty good series, along with X 1999. Too bad Tsubasa is more like "Here Comes Syaoran The Cool Hero". Keh, I say.
  
  
• Rezo from Slayers (and Slayers Next? or was it Slayers Try? Wait, that was Copy Rezo...). I really miss those Dragon Slayer thrown away for good measure (and great justice).
  
  
• Edward Elric from Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (AKA Fullmetal Alchemist). Best plot I've seen yet.
  
  
• The five Inner Senshi (let's see... Minako, Ami, uhhhh... Usagi, Rei, and Makoto, yup) from Sailor Moon (and Sailor Moon R... and Sailor Moon S... and Sailor Moon SuperS... and Sailor Moon Stars...). Japanese names are Bishôjo Senshi Sailor Moon and all that. Yes, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon.
  
  Sue them for having horrible taste with names. Especially attack names like 'Lovely Punch' or the worst I've seen yet, 'Gentle Uterus'. Who the *bleep* made them up!?
  
  The opening song is evil. It sticks to your head.
  
  
• Hotohori (Mr. I'm So Beautiful - yes, 'beautiful') from Fushigi Yuugi (see if you can find him!). Sis has gotten a liking to Yuu Watase's works lately, especially after having read Alice 19th. Too bad I'm not too much into manga.
  
  
• Oscar from Rose of Versailles. Surprisingly good series, really. A classic as well from the 70s. Shôjo Kakumei Utena's author _must_ have watched it.
  
  
• An o-nigiri (rice ball). Probably the one from Fruits Basket: y'know, what with the game where everyone had a fruit's name and the loser had to be the onigiri. Or something like that. Very nice series. Though the manga seems to be even better. No umeboshi there though. The seiyuus rock.
  
  
• Tsuzuki from Yami no Matsuei: good art, characters are good too. Wonder why it only reached 12-14 eps? There's just a wee bit of shounen ai in there, but c'mon, even Naruto or Hunter X Hunter has more than that. And Suzaku's human (and female, mind you) form just looks so fine :). Sorry, she only appears in the manga.
  
  
• Kakashi-sensei from Naruto. All hip and cool, like Gai-sensei'd say. His face is covered, as usual. Just in the wrong way. Sis got trigger-happy in a way with the transparency. XD
  
  
• And uh, what the bleep is a Neopets petpet doing there? Don't ask me, I didn't put it there. Honestly.

Oh, and today was my favourite day of the year. Why? Simple! A 25-hour long day. See, today we were supposed to set back our clocks 1 hour. Too bad I wasted most of it tinkering around blogs. Tsk tsk.

At least I made a little program for a microcontroller we're working on this semester. I'm really curious. I'd love to make something to move around and roll a few wheels, but prolly I'll end up having to do something simpler. Don't think we have enough time for that.

And we're watching "Full Moon wo Sagashite" (Search for Full Moon). It's so fluffy and kawaii and all at first, it kind of made me want to puke. But it's getting interesting, and it's quite entertaining. Nothing impressive on the artistic side though. It's quite standard.

Tinker tinker little star...

Yes, tinker tinker. As you can see, we've been doing a bit of a facelift to the site around here. Not much really in the ways of design, but blogs are blogs in the end. But of course I have to spill the technical beans somewhere, so I'll do it here.

Originally, the polka-dotted template we used had a navigational bar on the left. All fine and dandy, but well, you can't just keep on adding things without it becoming excessively long and tiring to scroll through. So sis over there thought about adding a navbar to the right, with other assorted stuff like the chatterbox and the list.

Doing this the CSS way (that is, with floating elements instead of tables) was instructing, and certainly I think I can do a few more tricks now with CSS than before, but geez. I just hate IE and all its quirks, bugs and non-standard behaviour.

Doing stuff for Firefox is quite simple: the left navbar is a div with 'float:left' as a CSS attribute, the right one has 'float: right', and both are 20% as wide as the viewport. Then the main section is twice as wide, and the two navbars have 5% margins to the sides.

You just have to be careful and add 'margin: 0 auto' to the main section so it'll center properly. And that's it. The heading banner uses 'clear: both' so it stays out of trouble. And that's it. Nothing else, right?

Wrong. Apparently IE's CSS is broken in some aspects. According to the CSS standard, any floating element should just ignore the 'display' attribute: Firefox does it, IE doesn't. 'display:inline' to the floating elements and it's fine though.

Oh yes, and IE really _hates_ auto margins. I ended up specifying them myself. Also, the 'width: 40%' part for the main section worked funny in IE, so the margins acted their part as well (after all, 30% margin on both sides equals to 40% width, hm?).

Saying it like this sounds easy, but geez, finding the little bugs and workarounds was annoying. Also, Blogger's latest update broke our floating elements as well. Glad they added an option to take rid of the problem. In the worst case, I guess that some 'div { clear: none !important }' kludge could've work, but it'd have been so ugly.

And while we were at it, we changed around the colors. I actually did take my time to make the polka-dot background work fine with the percentages and all, though. Sis should've told me earlier. But oh yes, my solution would only work in Firefox.

The 'background-position' attribute allows you to shift around the upper-corner of the image. That way, you can sort of fake PNG-like transparency a little. Have a normal intensity background and a dimmed version. If you're careful and do it right, you'll be able to have the dimmed background in the navbars and main section fit the main background, just like the Blogger guys did it.

Of course, this only works in all modern browsers if you use fixed sizes everywhere, which is what they did. Actually, the site's contents' width was limited to 900 pixels, and everything was calculated from then on. But, I wanted to use percentages. But it turned out a little more complicated than I expected.

Why? 'background-position' works fine shifting around absolute lengths: it just moves it around as much as you want and that's it. But with percentages, they're calculated according to the padding box. And in a navbar, that's the navbar itself, NOT the viewport, which the margins are calculated in regards to. Thankfully, you can change this by setting the background to a fixed position, and THEN percentages work fine.

But in the end, percentages weren't even necessary. It was actually quite easy. Something like this:

body { background: #fff url('normalversion.jpg') 0 0 fixed; }
#main, .sidebar { background: #fff url('dimmedversion.jpg') 0 0 fixed; }

If you look at the code, it's easy to understand: both the dimmed and the normal version are fixed in the same position, it just happens that the dimmed version only shows up in the main section and the sidebars. So it fits just fine.

Bu~t, and there had to be one: once again, IE messes up and fixed backgrounds are fixed there according to the ELEMENT they're in, not the screen (as they should per the CSS standard). At this point, one can't help but think, "if some IE guy has a problem, just go and install Firefox for all I care". Is it REALLY so bad to implement an open standard properly?

Maa, in the end we just ditched the background, so it's all fine now. Hope you like the new look!

OMG - Weiss Kreuz quizzes

I was having lunch on my own in front of the computer. I was checking my best friend's blog - and somewhere in an old post were these two quizzes. I don't like Weiss - however bishie the men are said to be - weakest plot in town, etc, but you know how mad I'm about quizzes. So there. And I got the same result in both! I can't believe it - he's the one I like least. And what's that about killing my girl and having all town in my bed!! MIND YOU, there's only me in my bed - and that's more than enough for the space I have!
I might be one for silly puns and innocent teasing, but that is such a faint resemblance to that guy indeed. Tut tut. Someone tell me I'm like Aya, whom I like much better. But then I'm not mysterious, secretive or blatantly brooding. I'm loud and often intentionally silly. So well... okies. But I have moral principles! *blushes*
Pffff...
Now I'll laugh at myself, having a third thought, or a second one (in Tiffany Aching's words - that's from The Wee Free Men by Pratchett - my current reading) and then I'll paste results in here. See what you made me do, Carmen! Weiss, spare me! XD

I'm Glühen Youji.
Which Weiß Kreuz Glühen Character Are You? @ Shakunetsu no Honoo.

You're Yohji Kudou!

The slightly dysfunctional Weiss Kreuz Quiz

brought to you by Quizilla

Andreas Scholl - Arias for Senesino

I received it some time back, and I have been entranced by this jewel of a cd since. I keep putting off writing about it, as some impressions are always a bit hard to express. After all I'm just a music lover, so I hesitate in anything like commenting in any sort of definitive (i.e, written and public) format. On the other hand, I really need to tell the world how much I'm enjoying this music! And we are among friends, aren't we?

Anyone who knows me is already aware of the fact that I've been said to be a die hard Scholl fan. This cd proves that I have plenty of reasons to be one. He has talent and one of the most strikingly beautiful voices you'll ever hear. This wonderful sound of his is also very flexible and expressive - possibly one of the cleanest examples of singing around (all so immaculate and clear, but still transmitting such a sense of ease all the while). I had been thinking of late his voice had gained in power, expression and volume, had acquired an increasingly manly edge by losing some of his former purity and sweetness of tone. That was not meant as criticism - he's awesome as he ever was, but I did notice that change. Forget about it. In this new cd you get all Scholl voices, past, present and future, and it is enough to stop anyone's breath, no matter how many times you play it. That sweetness is still there - in the subdued tones seeking for the sorely missed beloved in "Dove Sei" (Handel), or in the plea for merciful release from disquieting thoughts in "Discordi Pensieri" (Lotti) - such moving, despairing appeal! So it is present in "Selvagge Amenita" (Albinoni) - a delightful illustration of the Beatus Ille topic, made by the very sweetness of the voice into as peaceful and contented a refuge as any you might ever have wished for.

So is it sweetness everything Scholl has to offer in his singing? By no means. Are you one for agility and vocal fireworks? You can enjoy the finest examples to your heart's content in here, starting with "Stelle Ingrate" (Albinoni) . Not a single feature missing - be it speed or detailed note-by-note embellishments, Scholl will go through them with his characteristic perfect ease. You might suffer in hearing others sing "Al lampo dell' armi" (Handel) at such a breakneck pace - as if they were just about to commit a mistake, as if they couldn't quite reach their goal. On the contrary, you find yourself thinking whether it is really that hard to achieve such clear articulation. You need to stop and listen carefully to realise that it is his voice that makes it sound so roundly effortless.

I had doubted his choice of repertoire - I thought (oh faithless me!) what was he thinking about in recording yet another typical cd for countertenors with yet more castrati arias. He was even re-recording some pieces ("Dove sei", "Al lampo dell' armi", and "Aure, deh, per pieta", and their recitatives). Now everything seems clear. However unbelievable it may sound, the man has surpassed himself - his previous performances of these pieces, finest examples yesterday, sound so raw side by side with the new versions. Amazing. Now there seems to be no shade in the widest range of human feelings he cannot express - be it fury, pity, defeat, despair, love.

I'll take my hat to him. My wig as well, if I wore one. There's hardly anything else I can say. This has become my official favourite of the year. Dear friends, beware, you already know what you're getting as gifts on miscellaneous occasions!

I only regret I did not take the chance to go and listen him live his new repertoire. As you know I am seeing Magdalena Kozena and David Daniels at the Barbican in November. Of course I'm really looking forward to it - but a small part of me wishes it were Scholl and Arias for Senesino. I might have to stop listening to it a couple of weeks before the concert if I want to enjoy it fully! I've always avoided comparing Scholl and Daniels - so I'm not starting now, am I?
So do get focused, Tonks. David Daniels it'll be, David Daniels!

HP Quizzes

Yep, I do agree with this one. Not about being a genius or intimidating people, but certainly Herminone is the character I mostly identify with. The fanart is lovely, btw.

Which HP Kid Are You?

They had also quizzes for relationships in HP. It is disturbing I suppose, but on the one hand they are teenagers already, aren't they? And do never underestimate the fact that the two things that move the world are love and money (and a couple of physical laws I learnt back in secondary school and forgot not long after, of course). In any case, as what regards heterosexual relationships in HP, my result was that I'm for the canon, innocent (the quiz said so - I might or might not agree), couple, Ginny and Harry. Now hold on to your seats - they also had a quiz for slash! I suppose they meant gay couples - I thought slash could include both straight and gay, but I'm not into fanfic, so I'm not that very sure. My (predictable) result was Remus and Lupin. Something romantic between old friends. Well, and so what? That is much my concept of a nice relationship. And Lupin is so sweet. I was so disappointed in the choice of actor for the film - I expected someone somewhat faded, but still with a sort of delicate, elegant beauty come to less, you see. I actually found the actor a bit rough, especially his body language - not saying I didn't like his acting, but he was not Remus Lupin to me.
I can't believe I'm discussing HP in these terms!

Neopets - A triumphant day! XD

Okies, what I'm going to relate in here might not seem of much importance to anyone - and of course I know the difference between getting an article published and this, but it surely gave me the goosebumps when I found out yesterday. You know in the virtual pets community Neopets you can take part in like groups, which are called Guilds. Well, I belong to a very friendly and active one called Neo Grownups (the very name explains it all). They organise events very often, and they have a game of the week, which is different every week. This week it consisted in completing a paragraph. And I won! :) I was so happy that I thought I'd put it somewhere. Life's simple pleasures, your average cynic would add. Right, but where's the harm anyway! It makes me happy!
So, this is it. In italics, my own addition. Above, my treasured virtual prizes, a bottled light fairy and a sweet. Heh.

Joey the Purple Uni went to the Soup Kitchen to help stir the pot. Suddenly the door get's smashed open! Felicia the Spotted Wocky comes running in, pointing towards the outside and saying with loud voice:

-Oh dear, this is the end! They opened a Zillion Soup charity just in front of us! They've got ALL varieties! And they are not only free, they have a free take away as well! If only they weren't rivals... - Felicia added mournfully, picturing herself in her cosy armchair later that evening watching her favourite TV show while enjoying a delicious bowl of warm cream of Tchea soup.
-Not to worry, not to worry, dear. I've just been researching on my last invention in nourishing food at low costs for the impoverished Neopian. What better than a wholesome bowl of Fairy lumpy porridge? What healthier?
-.... ... ....
-Whatever are you doing on your knees, Fliss?- said the Soup Faerie looking at her furry friend in astonishment.
-I'm on a pilgrimage to Coltzan's Shrine. On my knees, yes!
-How sweet of you indeed. How well you know what this little stand means to me. But do you really think it will be of any help after all?
-Might or might not be, but with a bit of luck I might even get some decent breakfast tomorrow - maybe slightly overcooked, but at least nothing you can build a Neohome with!

Tonks' Highway

Another very silly Internet thingie. This one made no questions, so its purely random, but I found it very funny, as it shows me so close to the Study Hall. Very appropriate indeed, as it is what I'm spending all my time in. Not complaining, it's more like excusing myself. I know, I know, the little brother also studies a lot, and still updates often...
Should post what I'm messing about these days. I certainly will. At some point today. Hopefully. I also added an invisible visitor counter in here, so beware, we are watching you! LOL!

ymphadora Tonks Highway Study Hall 8 Mt. Happiness 21 Family Farm 43 Tower of Commitment 105 County Jail 308 Please Drive Carefully

Username:

Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com

Quack.

Hee hee, a ducky. And I'm almost like my sister, a Lamb. Oh well. It just feels strange to be compared to a duck. =/

You Are A: Duckling!

The cutest of the cute, these baby ducks are often spotted in the spring following closely behind their mother. As a duckling you will grow up quickly, becoming one of the adult ducks seen commonly in ponds and streams. Playful and timid, charming and vulnerable, ducklings are nature's very definition of innocence.

You were almost a: Lamb or a Pony
You are least like a: Monkey or a TurtleWhat Cute Animal Are You?

Naruto Manga #278

Hmm... seems the Naruto-Chuushin people are getting sluggish these days. They didn't even post last week's manga, neither the raw nor the scanslation.

Oh well, I just grabbed the one from Naruto-Uchiha.es (or was it .com?), which has very high quality scans (sadly, no raw).

The story is getting more interesting than ever: Deidara explodes in tiny bits and Kakashi takes care of the explosion... taking her away to a different dimension?

Didn't know the Sharingan could do that... thought it was just a normal (well, high-level, especially the Mangekyou) doujutsu.

Apparently: yes, Gaara is dead, but he might be revived by Chiyo, with that life-exchange jutsu of hers. And.. that's it. Hmm. And I still wonder why they must butcher the story in the anime with so much horrible filler. Gah.

Another silly Quiz

A lamb, me? Hmmm... I don't quite agree, but I was honest in answering, really!

You Are A: Lamb!

Peaceful and gentle, lambs have been used in religious imagery for millennia. Lambs are baby sheep, an animal tended by shephards since the dawn of history. As a lamb, you tend to stay together in a flock and graze on grassy land. Lambs don't mind being led and tend not to go off on their own.

You were almost a: Bear Cub or a Pony
You are least like a: Parakeet or a MouseWhat Cute Animal Are You?

Almost There

Well, it seems like I've finished configuring everything important.. except the printer, of course, but hey.

The last update DID break my scim installation, but I got it working again, better than ever. Also, I found out my router only allowed 256 connections at a time using NAT, so having reconfigured eMule and Azureus considering that, browsing and everything works like a charm.

Oh, and got Samba reconfigured as well. Now even the CD will remount itself when necessary, and security is a wee bit more finegrained.

愛でたし、愛でたし！