642: Guilty as Charged
I spent the entire night, what I didn't spend tired as shit and napping, reading. From after work yesterday morning, I started with Death Note #3-4, skipped to FMA #9--subsequently getting LOST AS HELL in the plot--went back to the rest of DN [through #7], forgot to finish Gifts beforehand, shrugged, re-read FMA #6-9 to try to figure out what the hell is going on and failing a bit [I have a strong suspicion that the series is changing drastically], then reading all my newspaper backlog... all of perhaps 5% of the total content [4% being comics].
I was supposed to finish my Neojank pic, but I think it would be half-assed if I do and still go to bed at a properish time. I'm seriously running out of time for it, though, but I have work tonight and no excuse for being up this late. I was also ALSO supposed to clean out both gerbil cages, but since there mysteriously seems to be ABSOLUTELY NO DISH SOAP now... X( I had to use disposable wipes, and those were pretty sparse, too, so I could only do Jade Knight's [which needed it more].
I can say with a fair amount of certainty now that Death Note is my favourite manga, and not merely for the recency effect. When I got in trouble before for my take on ruling the world [note to self: finish retroactive tagging at some point], it was for what happens in DN.* In my initial proposition for improving the world, it was based almost entirely on Piers Anthony's Triple Detente and some documentary on the "For Profit = Better Quality" principle--that is, survival of the fittest [do away with anyone who does harm to society, including disease-carriers and criminals and so on]. In DN, it's predominantly criminals who get the axe, and innocents only if they threaten the Death Note user, but it's the same idea, and an actual illustration of what could allow a single person to rule the world.
*Original question: "If you could rule the world, what would you do?" My answer: "[Not that enough people would follow me so I could rule the world, but I recognize myself misguided enough to think the best course of action would be] Kill off physically, mentally, and morally unfit people, so the ones remaining will be more valuable to the planet, and so the environment will be better off."
Of course, why I got in trouble was the innocents portion of my declaration, which could easily have been dismissed with a "Doing away with disease-carriers won't do away with the disease, even if you get everyone who has it--you should enlist space explorers instead if you want to save the environment." Instead, I got death threats from the Thought Police--IRONICALLY. Good thing TEH INTERNETS is anonymous and I'll never actually meet these poor debators T_T
...I guess I'm writing my book at this point. Eh, that's okay, I apparently can't work through guilt enough times, since what I've worked through in writing my last one is resurfacing anyway X( I figure this is a subconscious effort on my part--to purposely? get in trouble on occasion as a means of creating material for myself \:' but if so, it's a really stupid way to go about it.
"No way! You're just being optimistic about the times you do get in trouble and making the most of it!" ...yeah, I'd like to think I'm that smart :( though, if I was, I'd just avoid the whole trouble bit in the first place... it never seems to go away, though.
Hmm. You know, I carry guilt for a long time because I can't forgive myself, but at the same time, I can't forgive others... but because I've realized they never asked for forgiveness. I'm not the type who believes someone should be automatically "forgiven" for something if they haven't apologized--that releases the offender from guilt. Certainly being civil is different from forgiving someone, which is why I'm more or less neutral about My Tormentor, in particular because the offense was over something as kids, but worse offenders I can't let slide so easily.
Guh... social appropriety is hard work.
ANYWAY, DN is kind of a visualization of my initial fantasy, one that--even the manga admits--all but the most humane of people secretly has. I mean, as immoral as taking another person's life may be, it's very hard not to wish death on certain select individuals, and that's the entire premise of the book--doing just that and still getting away with it. It's as brainy as Dan Brown wishes he was--though, out of fairness, Brown tried to stick to real-world possibilities, rather than drifting into heavy "I made up my own rules and here's how they work" territory. Psychologically, though, it's a heavy thinker like Parasyte, but without... as much of the gore.
It helps that Obata-sensei is illustrating it, too ^^ Ah, gorgeous... even if it has the creepiest hero I've ever seen o_O [of the all-human variety of heros, anyway]
Tonight, they also replayed the first episode we'd ever seen of MythBusters, the one that got us hooked on the show: Mr. Bean paints a small house by sticking dynamite in a can of paint. I put that on record, because first memories are awesome, and I like to remember where I first picked something up, like
- Death Note: ashuraou
- DragonQuest [Abel version]: random find on Fox
- Excel Saga: Tracy Butler/Candy Palmer
- FMA: bluerain [Curious point: have my previous LJ tags referring to rain_luong changed, or merely my Friends list association? I assume the latter, but it'd be cool if the former happened, as much a strain on the database that would be.]
- Hikaru no Go: Shonen Jump [NA release]
- Invader Zim: Tavicat [rikkisimons, specifically]
- JoJo's: kiken
- Keroro Gunso/Sgt. Frog: my brother
- Last Exile: kiken
- Oh My Goddess!: ...UBIQUITOUS
- Parasyte: MixxZine/Tokyopop
- Peach Girl: MixxZine/Tokyopop
- Princess Nine: ashuraou
- Reality Check!: random find in Previews
- Soul Hunter: ashuraou
- Usagi Yojimbo: random find in Haley's Comics [now defunct], indirect interest through TMNT
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Shonen Jump [NA release]
especially when a lot of the reader comments in Peach Girl are about being annoyed when someone copies you, including a copycat buying a manga you showed that person and going to other people and showing it off as if that person had originally discovered it instead of you. I recognize that not everyone cares, since it's easy to be in love with something and not be the slightest bit aware anymore of life prior to that love, but it seems polite to recognize when someone gave a gift as such... plus, I'm still going crazy trying to remember who first found "Tokyo Breakfast" o_O
...I feel like I'm forgetting something--AS PER USUAL--but I can't really be buggered to remember it at this point. Oh, well :/ One more thing to feel bad about later.
I was supposed to finish my Neojank pic, but I think it would be half-assed if I do and still go to bed at a properish time. I'm seriously running out of time for it, though, but I have work tonight and no excuse for being up this late. I was also ALSO supposed to clean out both gerbil cages, but since there mysteriously seems to be ABSOLUTELY NO DISH SOAP now... X( I had to use disposable wipes, and those were pretty sparse, too, so I could only do Jade Knight's [which needed it more].
I can say with a fair amount of certainty now that Death Note is my favourite manga, and not merely for the recency effect. When I got in trouble before for my take on ruling the world [note to self: finish retroactive tagging at some point], it was for what happens in DN.* In my initial proposition for improving the world, it was based almost entirely on Piers Anthony's Triple Detente and some documentary on the "For Profit = Better Quality" principle--that is, survival of the fittest [do away with anyone who does harm to society, including disease-carriers and criminals and so on]. In DN, it's predominantly criminals who get the axe, and innocents only if they threaten the Death Note user, but it's the same idea, and an actual illustration of what could allow a single person to rule the world.
*Original question: "If you could rule the world, what would you do?" My answer: "[Not that enough people would follow me so I could rule the world, but I recognize myself misguided enough to think the best course of action would be] Kill off physically, mentally, and morally unfit people, so the ones remaining will be more valuable to the planet, and so the environment will be better off."
Of course, why I got in trouble was the innocents portion of my declaration, which could easily have been dismissed with a "Doing away with disease-carriers won't do away with the disease, even if you get everyone who has it--you should enlist space explorers instead if you want to save the environment." Instead, I got death threats from the Thought Police--IRONICALLY. Good thing TEH INTERNETS is anonymous and I'll never actually meet these poor debators T_T
...I guess I'm writing my book at this point. Eh, that's okay, I apparently can't work through guilt enough times, since what I've worked through in writing my last one is resurfacing anyway X( I figure this is a subconscious effort on my part--to purposely? get in trouble on occasion as a means of creating material for myself \:' but if so, it's a really stupid way to go about it.
"No way! You're just being optimistic about the times you do get in trouble and making the most of it!" ...yeah, I'd like to think I'm that smart :( though, if I was, I'd just avoid the whole trouble bit in the first place... it never seems to go away, though.
Hmm. You know, I carry guilt for a long time because I can't forgive myself, but at the same time, I can't forgive others... but because I've realized they never asked for forgiveness. I'm not the type who believes someone should be automatically "forgiven" for something if they haven't apologized--that releases the offender from guilt. Certainly being civil is different from forgiving someone, which is why I'm more or less neutral about My Tormentor, in particular because the offense was over something as kids, but worse offenders I can't let slide so easily.
Guh... social appropriety is hard work.
ANYWAY, DN is kind of a visualization of my initial fantasy, one that--even the manga admits--all but the most humane of people secretly has. I mean, as immoral as taking another person's life may be, it's very hard not to wish death on certain select individuals, and that's the entire premise of the book--doing just that and still getting away with it. It's as brainy as Dan Brown wishes he was--though, out of fairness, Brown tried to stick to real-world possibilities, rather than drifting into heavy "I made up my own rules and here's how they work" territory. Psychologically, though, it's a heavy thinker like Parasyte, but without... as much of the gore.
It helps that Obata-sensei is illustrating it, too ^^ Ah, gorgeous... even if it has the creepiest hero I've ever seen o_O [of the all-human variety of heros, anyway]
Tonight, they also replayed the first episode we'd ever seen of MythBusters, the one that got us hooked on the show: Mr. Bean paints a small house by sticking dynamite in a can of paint. I put that on record, because first memories are awesome, and I like to remember where I first picked something up, like
- Death Note: ashuraou
- DragonQuest [Abel version]: random find on Fox
- Excel Saga: Tracy Butler/Candy Palmer
- FMA: bluerain [Curious point: have my previous LJ tags referring to rain_luong changed, or merely my Friends list association? I assume the latter, but it'd be cool if the former happened, as much a strain on the database that would be.]
- Hikaru no Go: Shonen Jump [NA release]
- Invader Zim: Tavicat [rikkisimons, specifically]
- JoJo's: kiken
- Keroro Gunso/Sgt. Frog: my brother
- Last Exile: kiken
- Oh My Goddess!: ...UBIQUITOUS
- Parasyte: MixxZine/Tokyopop
- Peach Girl: MixxZine/Tokyopop
- Princess Nine: ashuraou
- Reality Check!: random find in Previews
- Soul Hunter: ashuraou
- Usagi Yojimbo: random find in Haley's Comics [now defunct], indirect interest through TMNT
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Shonen Jump [NA release]
especially when a lot of the reader comments in Peach Girl are about being annoyed when someone copies you, including a copycat buying a manga you showed that person and going to other people and showing it off as if that person had originally discovered it instead of you. I recognize that not everyone cares, since it's easy to be in love with something and not be the slightest bit aware anymore of life prior to that love, but it seems polite to recognize when someone gave a gift as such... plus, I'm still going crazy trying to remember who first found "Tokyo Breakfast" o_O
...I feel like I'm forgetting something--AS PER USUAL--but I can't really be buggered to remember it at this point. Oh, well :/ One more thing to feel bad about later.