Raiyuu

[font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='theOtaku']...like Romeo and Juliet with ninjas.[/quote] Stupid though it may sound, Basilisk actually is Romeo and Juliet with ninjas. It revolves around the planned marriage of Gennosuke, a ninja of the Koga clan, and Oboro, a ninja of the Iga clan. Koga and Iga hate each other - think Montagues and Capulets. At the same time, the elderly Shogun has two potential heirs, and decides to lift the peace treaty Hattori Hanzo has enforced between the two ninja clans. Each clan is assigned one of the heirs; whichever clan wipes the other out, the corresponding heir takes the throne. Basilisk has slotted neatly into my list of all-time favourite anime. It's one of the most original things I've seen in a long time. The entire series basically follows the two clans as they gradually wipe each other out, one by one; each ninja has a different ninja skill / superpower, but there are very few cliched powers in there. I won't spoil any of them, but a few of them took me completely by surprise, something not a lot of series seem to do anymore. As an added bonus, the characters don't spend half an episode explaining the intricate inner workings of their power (something that eventually started to grate in GetBackers); instead, they get on with using it, and let you the viewer work out what's going on. So finally, a "superpower-genre" anime that treats you like a grown-up. Anyone else seen it? What did anyone think? [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Surely the point of a fanfiction is that you set it in the same setting as a series / book / manga you like? If you don't know where / with whom to set the story, is it really a fanfiction? If we give you settings and characters, it won't be your own love of Series X that sparked it off. Why do you want to write fanfiction? Answer that question and you should answer your own at the same time. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]I think people have various unofficial chatrooms set up on the Yahoo! networks and such ... perhaps rather than try and add plugins to the vB, we could set up an "Official" OtakuBoards Yahoo! Chat? Or perhaps a thread somewhere with links to all the unofficial ones, so those of us who don't personally know the person that set up the room can also get involved.[/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Just thought I'd take time out to say this has been my favourite challenge so far, even if I had a bit of a hiatus in the middle while I stage-managed [i]A Streetcar Named Desire ... [/i]thanks a lot Sandy, I really feel like I've given my creative laundry an airing.[/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Hmm, so what's happened since I last posted...? [quote name='Dagger][/font]the big question is whether [color=#000000][spoiler]the 17-year-old mentioned is Midori (haha), Mai or someone else altogether.[/color][font=Trebuchet MS'][/spoiler][/quote] Looks like it was [spoiler]Midori after all[/spoiler]! It was good to get some background on Aswad; up until this point, Aswad and Schwarz have been kind of blurring together into "the baddies" for me, but now it's clear that [spoiler]Schwarz are the actual baddies, while Midori's lot have laudable aims, but are going about achieving them in the wrong way (i.e. through violence)[/spoiler]. [quote name='Dagger][/font]About Miyu: It's been theorized by some that she's [spoiler][color=#000000]the same Miyu who appeared in My-HiME.[/color][font=Trebuchet MS'][/spoiler][/quote] I didn't give much credence to that theory, [spoiler]but it looks like it's been proved right. She's definitely still a robot, and her reference to 'someone who called me Miyu' (especially given the glance towards canary-Alyssa) would seem to confirm that she's the same Miyu as before[/spoiler]. I'm interested to see how the writers explain that one. :animestun Also ... a nice HiME homage with Natsuki and Nao's hitchhiking antics! The end of episode 19 seemed like an excuse for a cliffhanger to me, so hopefully Sunrise will make something interesting of their predicament to make up for it ... the episode 20 preview certainly has me on tenterhooks. It looks like it'll jump about a bit, with sections focused on [spoiler]Tomoe (maybe we'll finally see what makes her tick), Arika and Mashiro, and Natsuki and Nao meeting up with Yukino and Haruka. And the Otome we see materialised ... was she the one attached to the other king? Looks like Harmonium features again, too. Maybe human-Mikoto will make an appearance[/spoiler]... [/font]

[center][i][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]The closer you step to the light The darker your shadow becomes. The hardest challenges Occur right before your goal. [/font][/color][/i] [left][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Xiaoyu couldn't tell who was speaking, or whether anyone was - the words seemed piped right into her head. Her eyes were squeezed tight shut, her arms thrown up to cover her face, and still there was pure white light seeping in between her eyelids. She twisted away from the blinding thing in the centre of the room, risking a peep between her forearms. The intensity of the light seemed to have tarnished the walls, turning them a matte grey instead of the mirrored silver surface they had been. [b]"What's the point of all this?" [/b]she wailed. [b]"I just wanna get my treasure and go..." [/b]Abruptly, the light focused itself into a tight beam. No longer pulsing outward, filling the room, a single searchlight shone right at Xiaoyu, casting a white circle on the wall, [/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]cut with her silhouette[/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]. Her shadow [i]looked [/i]at her. Xiaoyu gasped and took an involuntary step back. The black cut-out Xiaoyu on the wall had glowing yellow eyes, and seemed able to move independently of her, and as she edged backwards, closer to the ball of light, it grew until it had to hunch under the ceiling. [b]"This isn't fun!" [/b]quavered Xiaoyu warningly at the giant shadow, just as it pulled itself out of the wall. There was an unsettling heart-shaped hole right through the centre of its chest, and its head seemed made of tentacles, a twisted mockery of her hair with two sickly yellow lamps glowing from within. Ponderously, it raised a distorted black arm, bringing it crashing down on the floor where she stood. Xiaoyu dived clumsily to one side, but somehow the shadow-fist still managed to strike her. It passed through her into the floor, so huge it completely enveloped her torso, bringing with it a sharp, deathly cold feeling, like being immersed in an ice floe. As it raised its fist for another blow, she scrambled to her feet, shivering and sweating. She ran around the light source to the other side of the room, but the searchlight followed her, projecting the monstrous shadow-Xiaoyu onto the wall in front of her wherever she ran. She tried hurdling the ball of light - it didn't feel hot at all - but the shadow was projected onto the ceiling above her, swinging across and down the opposite wall to appear in front of her once again. She tripped on one of Robotnik's severed mechanical limbs, curling into the foetal position to receive the next unavoidable blow and feeling another layer of her life-force being shaved off. [i]Whirr [/i]As the fist lifted off her once again, she opened her eyes, gasping for breath, and saw that she'd fallen on a control switch on the pointed metal limb. The circular saw at the end folded away, replaced with an electric sander that buzzed into life, juddering uselessly at the end of the discarded arm. But Xiaoyu saw an opportunity, pulling herself to her feet and heaving the heavy arm up with her. Throwing what little weight she had forward, she rammed the sander right through the hole where the monster's heart should have been. A beam of pure white light stabbed through the Heartless creature's breast, leaving it howling in pain. The sander had ground off an area of tarnished steel in the wall behind it, revealing the mirrored surface beneath, and the very light that cast the shadow-creature had reflected from it, piercing the thing. [b]"No shadows in a room full of mirrors!" [/b]chirped Xiaoyu, shoving the sander through her shadow once again. More bright pinpoints began to impale the monstrous Xiaoyu, and soon she managed to join them up, until one massive shaft of light had near-obliterated its torso. The yellow lamps of its eyes began to gutter as she threw herself forward, angling the robot arm upwards to drive a shining rod right through its forehead. There was a shriek that seemed to echo through the very core of Xiaoyu's being, and the tarnish cracked off the rest of the walls, bathing the shadow-creature in the pure white light of the orb. Its entire body was eroded, collapsing in on itself until only a drop of black slime was left. It dripped to the floor, dead. Xiaoyu dropped the arm with a clatter and collapsed to her knees, exhausted in body and mind. [b]"So ..." [/b]she gasped, [b]"I don't suppose ... I get my treasure ... now...?" [/b]The drop of black slime was moving. It slithered across the shining silver floor towards the still-shining white orb that hovered over the staircase. Xiaoyu didn't have the energy to stop it, watching with utter resignation. [i][b]They'll combine ... next stage of the boss ... I won't survive. Oh well, deletion here I come... [/b][/i]The droplet of black hopped up into the white orb, which immediately turned black and liquid-like, whirling and stretching, distorting like the clay on a potter's wheel until... A magnificent black key, the length of Xiaoyu's arm, hovered gracefully above the stairwell. Where a key's teeth would normally be was a blade, like this key was meant to be used as a sword. Taking hold of the Keyblade filled Xiaoyu with renewed vigour. With a grin and a nod to the room, she set off skipping, down the stairs to meet Mog with her treasure. [/font][/color][/left] [/center]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Satisfy your Bleach lust with the manga instead. It's getting really good again, after a faily dull sub-arc. And my theory in my above post is utterly wrong, because we've been told by Urahara that [spoiler]the vampires are humans with powers, like Quincy, and Baiken, the bad guy in Sealed Sword Frenzy, is a Shinigami[/spoiler]. [/font]

[center][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS][i]Something made of light approached the bottom of the staircase, just as a bizarre piggyback of demonic creature and petite Asian girl disappeared into the ceiling. It knew nothing except to approach the girl, and unleash its true form... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ [/i][/font][/color][/center] [b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS] "Bwahahahahahahaaaaah!" [/font][/color][/b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]The laughter had a wobbly quality to it, like it was coming from a big pile of jelly. Apprehensively Xiaoyu clambered down her puppet; as she'd reached the tower landing, all the marionettes had gone limp, dangling eerily at the end of their strings. It looked like the possessed puppets had outlived their usefulness. They couldn't reach her on the landing, so they'd been deactivated, or exorcised, or something. She looked around, unable to tell from where in the echoey space the gelatinous laughter was coming. The staircase ended in the centre of a large, circular room, presumably the turret's highest chamber. The pastel-pink glass was gone, replaced by sheets of polished steel; rivets winked in rows and columns, dividing the walls and floor into neat rectangles. Two banks of controls bleeped and whistled opposite each other against the walls. [b]"Bwahahaaaah! Still can't see me, girly?" "Where are you?" [/b]Xiaoyu demanded petulantly, stamping her foot. [b]"I [i]hate [/i]hide-and-seek." [/b]There was a [b]clunk [/b]Followed by the beginning of a metallic [b]whirr [/b]And Xiaoyu suddenly realised there was something [i]above [/i]her... Hung from the ceiling on fine steel cables was a bulbous, silvered pod, in which sat the source of the jelly-laugh: a rotund man in a red lab coat and black welding-goggles, sporting a manic grin underneath a huge orange moustache. Spidery silver limbs radiated out from the pod; Xiaoyu suddenly realised that at certain points around the edge of the room, bunches of puppet-strings disappeared through holes in the floor, their upper ends grasped by robotic manipulators. As she watched, miniature circular saws unfolded from the ends of the limbs and severed the strings; the clattering of marionettes dropping to the ground echoed up from the staircase. [b]"You'll make a fine footsoldier!" [/b]roared the fat scientist, pushing wildly at levers and buttons in his cockpit. [b]"I'll encase you in armour, give you a brain-chip, and you can loyally serve the army of your Lord Robotnik!"[/b] He threw three levers forward at once. Xiaoyu only just avoided the pincer arms that threatened to impale her where she stood. As she tripped and skidded across the smooth steel floor, a door irised shut over the entrance to the staircase, sealing her in with the crazy Doctor Robotnik. [b]"Attack Pattern Alpha!" [/b]he warbled, smacking at buttons with abandon. His cockpit swivelled, and the mechanical arms began to pound at Xiaoyu in earnest. As she narrowly dodged each one, she was trying desperately to anticipate their movements; "Attack Pattern" presumably meant there was a set sequence... Operating almost entirely on instinct, she stepped smartly to her left, expecting the cold stab of metal through her body at any second. Instead, a circular saw passed either side of her, close enough for their whining sound to set her teeth on edge. She ducked and two more saws whistled over her head; jumped, and two more scythed past under her feet. Robotnik seemed to be enjoying himself far too much to notice she'd figured out his attack pattern, so she started incorporating a slow backwards shuffle into her sidestep-duck-jump pattern, heading achingly slowly towards one of the control panels against the wall, all the while aware that a single wrong move could mean a rip in her dress, or a lost limb. There was only one button on the control panel that concerned Xiaoyu. It was big and red and said [b]DEACTIVATE [/b]on it. As she jumped to avoid the saws' low swing, she brought both hands down hard on the button. [b]"Hey!" [/b]cried Robotnik angrily, as his machine clunked, whistled and stopped moving. He jabbed and slapped at random controls as Xiaoyu scurried across the room to the other control panel. The biggest button on this one said [b]DETACH. [/b]When she pushed it, a pair of spider-legs popped off the cockpit with a hiss of compressed gas. The disadvantage was, this button seemed to start up the machine again. [b]"Attack Pattern Beta!" [/b]roared Robotnik. Xiaoyu rolled her eyes, before fixing them on the whirling arms as they approached across the floor ... [/font][/color] [center][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS][i]~~~~~~~~~~~~ It had reached the top of the staircase, but there was a barrier to its progress. It hovered, uncertain, and waited for a solution to present itself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ [/i][/font][/color] [left][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Dodging Attack Pattern Delta involved ducking and sidestepping to avoid a U-shaped down-across-and-upward swipe, follwed by a complicated little two-step, hopping backwards onto one foot and immediately sideways onto the other, avoiding vicious jabs of the saw. There was a deep cut on Xiaoyu's arm where she'd been caught unawares by the speed and ferocity of Attack Pattern Gamma, and another across her back where she'd gotten complacent about her proximity to the control panel and tried, unsuccessfully, to make a break for it. Both injuries were making it hard to concentrate on the awkward dance she had to perform across the rivet-studded floor, but eventually she found herself in a position to throw herself on the [b]DEACTIVATE [/b]button, halting the tiny saws centimetres from her hamstrings. Hopping carefully over them, and taking a moment to cheekily stick out her tongue at the fuming mad scientist, she whacked the [b]DETACH [/b]button for the final time, and the last two arms joined their six companions on the floor. [b]"You haven't heard the last of this, hedgehog!" [/b]raged Robotnik (Xiaoyu guessed his fury had driven him a bit madder, because she hadn't looked like a hedgehog last time she looked) and threw every lever in his bubble forward, pulling it up through a hole in the ceiling. A door irised shut over the hole, simultaneously opening the one in the floor. [/font][/color] [center][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS][i]~~~~~~~~~~~~ This was its chance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ [/i][/font][/color] [left][b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]"Hee~eeeey! Where's - my - treasure?" [/font][/color][/b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Xiaoyu yelled at the solid steel ceiling. [b]"That was [i]hard! [/i]I deserve a - whaaa~aaah?!" [/b]The room was filled with blinding light. [/font][/color][/left] [/center] [/left] [/center]

[font=Trebuchet MS]For any Sanzo fans out there, I'm finished with these: [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/SheriffMatt/sanzoavicopy.jpg[/img] [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/SheriffMatt/fanbannercopy.jpg[/img] [/font]

[color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]The staircase was crawling with marionettes. From her hiding place under the stairs, Xiaoyu watched them bumble about, aimlessly swinging their blade-tipped arms, and thanked her lucky stars she'd decided to wear a dress the same colour as the castle. The staircase was translucent like the rest of the [/font][/color][font=Trebuchet MS][color=Purple]Château, but even if the marionettes were intelligent enough to look through the floor (and she doubted that, considering they weren't even smart enough to move on their own) she'd be camouflaged. It was possible there wasn't even a treasure in this tower. She could leave, avoid the cleaver-swinging puppets and find an easier route. But there was no guarantee an easier route existed, and it had taken quite long enough, wandering through the labyrinth of rosy crystal, to find this tower. And if it turned out there was a treasure here, she'd kick herself at the end of the challenge. Mog had said to use stealth and wits, not head-on fighting. [i][b]So there must be a way to get up the stairs without having to fight them ... but there's so many, they're blocking the way! I can't avoid them! [/b][/i]Xiaoyu thought back to her fight with Panda. She knew the weakness of her opponent and used it to her advantage. The loss of her strength, agility and power-up moves didn't stop her from noticing the obvious weakness of the marionettes. It didn't take long to work out how that could be turned to her advantage. She emerged from under the stairs, grabbing the edge of the spiral staircase and hauling herself up, right in front of a marionette. Its arms were tipped with razor-sharp scythe blades, but the gangly, awkward limbs couldn't reach a target right in front of its body. As it began flailing, before too many others could notice her, Xiaoyu grabbed the puppet's shoulders and pulled herself up, feet scrabbling at its chest for purchase. She started panicking; others were starting to notice her, and they were in a better position to slice at her than the one she was currently clambering up. Planting her feet firmly on its chest, she heaved herself up, letting go of its shoulders and swaying momentarily off-balance before grabbing madly at the strings that connected its limbs to the ceiling of the tower. They were thinner than she'd been expecting, and sliced at her palms as she lifted her entire body weight, heaving her feet up onto the marionette's shoulders. Suddenly alone in a forest of black strings, she wasted no time in tearing a couple of strips off the hem of her dress with which to bind up her bleeding palms. The marionette on which she balanced had been quickly surrounded by others, and they were raising their arms, skinny, too-many-jointed limbs allowing the bladed ends to extend right up to Xiaoyu's head height. Swallowing panic, she grabbed once more at the strings attached to her steed's arms, wrenching both around to her right. The puppet's scythed limbs obediently whistled across in front of it, slicing off the raised arms of her attackers with a splintering [i]crunch. [/i]Three demonic marionettes slumped in the hammock of their strings, now bereft of controlling influence. Carefully working out which strings were attached to 'her' puppet's feet, Xiaoyu started the long march up the staircase, towards her treasure. [/color][/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS][spoiler]Hanatarou's appearance really threw me. I read a synopsis ages ago of the next JUMP Festa omake episode, [i]The Sealed Sword Frenzy, [/i]and it involved Renji turning up pretending to be a cop, and Hanatarou turning up working in a shop. I seem to remember the bad guy from the omake looking quite like the beardy boss vampire, too, so maybe they're building up for the omake to end the filler arc?[/spoiler][/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Hey there, [b]gothicserenity. [/b]I'm locking this thread because it's unlikely to generate [b]discussion. [/b]The way you've phrased the first post, you're encouraging short, spammy responses like "Yeh me". When starting a new thread, try and encourage some actual discussion or debate, or your thread is likely to die or get locked after a couple of responses. For more on OtakuBoards' policies on spam and post quality, see the Rules and FAQ, located on the left sidebar. Still got questions? Feel free to PM me, or any of the other OB Moderators. [b]Thread locked.[/b] [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Walt Disney had wooden teeth and hated Jews. And old, outmoded laws nobody's bothered to revoke yet are always amusing: Technically all English taxis are required by law to carry a bale of hay, to feed the horse that would have pulled them when they were Hansom cabs. And this one may be an urban myth because I've heard so many different versions of it, but I think it's legal to kill a Scotsman, as long as you do it in York town centre, with a bow and arrow. [quote name='Ezekiel][/font][size=1]Pigs can have orgasms up to two hours long![/size'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] Well, if we're going to go into animal coitus, the genitalia of the male pig is the same shape as his tail: curly like a spring. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='Ikillion][/font][color=DarkSlateGray][size=1][font=Comic Sans MS]What happens when a spirit is killed?[/font][/size][/color'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] It's been explained, and you're pretty much right. Die in the 'real' world, you go to Soul Society as a spirit. Die in Soul Society and you're reincarnated in the 'real' world. Way back near the beginning of the series, when Ishida first made his appearance and Rukia was explaining what was wrong with the Quincys' methods, there was a metaphor with a big hourglass. It was full of liquid flowing both ways, so each bulb (real world and Soul Society) is constantly refilling the other. On the subject of the latest episode, I am getting a little annoyed at the big deviations from the manga, as I think they're going to reduce the impact of certain events once the [spoiler]Arrancar/Visored[/spoiler] arc begins. Most specifically [spoiler]the entrances of Renji and Rukia[/spoiler]. But overall I'm impressed, the filler episodes haven't been nearly as sucky as I was expecting. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Like I've said before, this is really quite good. But I agree with Revelation that it does seem rushed in places. We don't feel sorry for people when they die because we've only known them for two paragraphs. Don't get me wrong, the [i]pace [/i]is great, and stories like this one need to move along at breakneck speed. But it's possible to have pace without the writing seeming hasty. Take a bit more time and you won't get inconsistencies like this one: [quote name='Firespark][/font][size=1]Soon enough, the ship docked with the satellite, and Blayze boarded alone, and **unarmed.**[/size][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] [quote=Later that same chapter...][/font][size=1][b]"I thought I might see you again soon,"[/b] snarled Blayze, his hand **dropping to his pistol,** his other stuffing the disc into a pouch on his belt.[/size'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] However, massive kudos for being probably the first OB fanfic writer I've ever seen to finish their story! [/font]

[color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]There was a brief feeling of being upside-down and inside-out, and then Xiaoyu found herself not in the CPU but in a grand entrance hall. Across a wide expanse of smooth floor, twin staircases swept elegantly upwards in serpentine curves to a gallery with an ornately tooled balustrade. A huge, complex chandelier hung in the centre of the ceiling, jagged arcs and bridges of crystal swooping around each other. Doors lined the walls to either side of Xiaoyu, both on her level and upstairs on the gallery. The entire room - walls, floor, staircases, chandelier - was made of smooth, glassy, pale pink crystal. It was eerily silent, especially considering the amount of monsters with which Mog had claimed to have infested the [/font][/color][font=Trebuchet MS][color=Purple]Château, but the silence seemed to ring and reverberate off the smooth surfaces, producing a sound like a finger around a wineglass-rim, which Xiaoyu was sure was only in her head. [b]"Too many doors..." [/b]she commented to herself, glancing around and unsure of where to start her search. The wineglass-ring picked up her words and added their echoes to the eerie sound-that-wasn't-a-sound. Deciding quickly not to make too much noise, Xiaoyu racked her brains. The view of the [/color][/font][font=Trebuchet MS][color=Purple]Château Mog had showed them in the CPU had been made of pink crystal, so that was the wing she'd landed in, presumably. It had had lots of turrets ... and if Xiaoyu knew anything about treasures hidden in castles, it was that they were always at the top of the tallest tower, guarded by some ferocious beastie. That was the plan, then. Keep heading upwards till she found the tallest tower. Bring back whatever she found there. She noticed the difference as soon as she started moving: her steps had lost their finely-honed agility, and she seemed to have forgotten how to maintain that alertness and awareness her martial arts had taught her, to guard against surprise attacks. She grimaced, imagining Mog snickering back in the CPU. Trotting up the staircase, she chose a door at random and pushed. It swung open silently, gliding on crystal hinges. As the door swung closed behind her, it threw reflected glimmers of light across the hall, playing across the crazy curves and angles of the chandelier. Striking the many-faceted surface, the light split, scattering sparkling pinpoints that reflected back from the glassy walls and floor to strike the chandelier again, splitting further until a fine web of light had built up between the chandelier and the floor. The beams intensified as they reflected back and forth, growing into a solid-seeming mass of white light and heat, warping sheets of heat-haze rising to the ceiling. The cocoon of light grew to blinding intensity, the hall's wineglass-hum rising to screeching pitch, until it shattered into a million glittering shards, revealing [i]something [/i]inside, which glided across the floor and phased through the door Xiaoyu had entered... [/color][/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]From 4pm GMT today until Monday sometime, my internet connection's going to be really disrupted - the university's doing maintenance on their servers or something, so it'll be hit-and-miss whether I can log on between now and Monday. So it's a good thing we're taking it slow with this one, right?[/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]My thoughts on the matter are that you can't use the phrase: [quote name='Prick Wizard][/font'] it is a well known fact[font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] in a debate without evidence to back it up. It [b]isn't [/b]a well known fact that elves have magical festivals. Meanwhile, all the information you could ever need on crop circles can be found [u][b][url="http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Crop_circles"]here.[/url][/b][/u] [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]That, and it's difficult to fish when you live inland. Fine for people living on the coast, but you can't fish on a potato farm.[/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS][quote=Dictionary.com][b]drug, n.[/b] [/font]A chemical substance, such as a narcotic or hallucinogen, that affects the central nervous system, causing changes in behavior and often addiction.[font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] Pot is a chemical substance that affects the central nervous system, therefore is a drug. Consider it not to be a dangerous or addictive drug if you like, but it's a drug the same as caffeine or chocolate are drugs. And don't do cocaine. Or heroin. I've seen the effects. And you can dispute the physical effects if you like - I don't study biology any more - but in my experience hard drug addicts are boring, boring people. [i]"Did I tell you about the time I had that awesome high -" [/i]Yes, yes you did, and it just isn't interesting. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]What are this "Trillian" and this "Adium" of which you speak? Do they connect the contact lists from all your other IM clients? Because if so, cookies to whoever invented them.[/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]I'm primarily a [b]Messenger [/b]user. I think it's the easiest one to use, though every new version brings with it more pointless bells and whistles I'm never going to use. I also use [b]AIM, [/b]because it's required of OB staff. I didn't use it before I was staff as I'm deeply distrstful of any and all AOL products. We used to use AOL as our internet provider, and it royally screwed up our computer. When we switched to a different provider, AOL still periodically kept popping up; it was nigh impossible to fully remove from the system, like the nastiest, most invasive spyware. And I have [b]Skype, [/b]which I would use if more people I knew also used it. I have a mic headset for it and everything! [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Don't be so hard on yourself. A lot of writers go "lookie, a bit of writer's block, better give up completely". The ability to write even when the creative juices really aren't flowing separates a good writer from a bad one. And you know [/font][font=Trebuchet MS]that [/font][font=Trebuchet MS]if you gave up you'd have a mob of OBers turn up on your virtual e-doorstep demanding you finish the thing so we can all find out whodunit... (Side note: the stance they take on my creative writing course is that writer's block does not exist. My tutor says to just write [b]something, [/b]no matter whether you think it's sucky, because then you have a starting point from which you can edit and improve. You can't do any of that with a blank page. Of course, they might just be saying that so we can't use writer's block as an excuse for not handing in assignments.) I'd have liked a bit more on Xion's psych report - seeing what aspects of the murders made him come to his conclusions (that this is a serial killer high up the food chain). You're not a criminal psychologist, obviously, but as long as it sounds convincing to a layman audience, it works. Heck, for all I know you have that planned for later instalments. Don't for a second think that just because a chapter doesn't contain brutal murders or grisly autopsies, it isn't interesting or worth reading. JJ commented to me on Messenger the other day that Anthology commenters tend to rip stuff apart if it isn't wall-to-wall sex, death and rock'n'roll. Just keep writing what you want to write, 'kay? [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]I think Kanye West actually said "George Bush [b]doesn't care about [/b]black people", not that he hates them. That would have been a bit over the top. While this is kind of a different take on the subject, since it all started with renayiiq's opinion on freedom of speech I'm going to merge it with Amelia's freedom of speech thread. Just for tidiness' sake. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS][spoiler]Why didn't Ichigo just bash each of his friends over the head with his Battle Certificate? It has the same effect as Rukia's glove or Urahara's cane, so the Mod-Soul pill would have popped right out of fake-Chad/Claude's skull. Easy win for Team Ichigo. But no. Bleh.[/spoiler] I'm baffled as to why the next episode is going to be a double. Surely the idea of filler is to pad for time while they animate more episodes of genuine, manga-based Bleach; if that's the case, why speed up the rate at which we progress through the filler? Whatever, I'm hoping the double will mark the end of the arc, but what with those three randoms in the end sequence I'm not optimistic. Lirin did say [spoiler]that finding Chad would be the "last game,"[/spoiler] so maybe the double is the end of the Lirin/Claude/Nova arc and the beginning of the 'other guys' arc? [/font]