Sara

[color=#6699cc]Hi, Axel. Welcome to OB. The best way to make friends here is to read the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]rules[/url] and get involved in the community. Reply to threads; join an RPG in the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=45]Arena[/url]; get involved. See you on the Boards![/color]

[color=#6699cc]I'm not learning Japanese by any stretch of the imagination, although I may take classes in it next year, depending on how my other languages are going. It isn't a goal of mine to be fluent in Japanese, but I think it would be cool to have a working knowledge of as many languages as possible. I do know most of the words you listed there, just by being associated with theOtaku for o many years now. You tend to pick up the wapanese phrasings. ;) Weirdly enough, I became familiar with several words when I was big into Digimon. I'd look up words in Japanese to use for some of my character's names. That was fun. [/color]

[color=#6699cc]Well, I don't know, but I know how you can find out. [list=1] [*]Watch every anime, ever. [*]Record which kind of music appears the most in show. [*]Compile and tabulate your results. [/list] And there you'll have it. Happy listening![/color]

[quote name='Little Slugger']are you a fan of afi? ........ well the main question is whats the main music category for all anime...[/quote][color=#6699cc]I think you're missing the point: Your question doesn't have a simple answer. Just as anime has more than one genre, I think it's safe to say that more than one category of music fits its many series. The soundtrack for Ghibli's [i]Whisper of the Heart[/i] certainly wouldn't fit FMA, for example.[/color]

[quote name='songo999']i like urs ^^ its kool :animesmil[/quote] [quote name='kisa_the_tiger']my last name is EDNIE and i love u r name andy right or somthing go ahead make fun of my last name it's british[/quote] [color=#6699cc]Welcome to the boards, Kisa and Songo. Please read our [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]rules[/url] before you continue posting. Post quality is a big part of OtakuBoards, and I think you'll find that it's a much more enjoyable place when you conform to the standards we have set here.[/color]

[quote name='Break']No, it's because your teachers are most likely foreign, as no one 'native' wants to be a teacher because it pays badly.[/quote][color=#6699CC]Actually, most of my teachers are in it because, as sappy as it sounds, they figure it's their calling. Yay for Christian schools. :) [quote name='2_D']NO I MADE A TYPO!!!^... it never fails with me...[/quote]There's an 'edit' button at the bottom of your post. Feel free to use it. You can fix all your typos there. :)[/color]

[color=#6699cc]I've had a history of teachers with hard-to-read names. First grade: Mr. Schuessler. (Shess ler) Second grade: Mrs. Cycenus (Sigh seen us) Third grade: Mrs. Dziekan (Duh zee can) Fifth grade: Mr. Koepke. (Kep kee) Eighth grade: Mr. Zuelsdorff. (Zeelz dorf) High school: Rognsvoog (Rons voag), Luchterhand (Luck ter hand), DeKeuster (Dee koos ter), Bruening (Brew ning), Thieme (tee me), Guethling (Get ling). I might live in an area heavily populated by Germans. [/color]

[color=#6699cc]As far as I can glean, you are equating extreme religious claims of "God wants this" or "God is cool with this" with God himself. [b]God=!religion.[/b] To me, being a Christian is having a personal relationship with God, and accepting Jesus Christ as your savior. It has nothing to do with what "religion" or denomination you consider yourself to be. It has nothing to do with what any of the church leaders proclaim, nor anything to do with what other people have erroneously done in God's name. It has to do with accepting Christ. Do you know [i]why[/i] you can do that? Because God, as of Jesus' death and ressurection, is forgiving. And aplogies about this spiel, because I know it seems out of place in the current line of conversation. But it's relevent, due to what I just said: [i]The New-Testament God is forgiving.[/i] He doesn't smite people anymore. Jesus took care of everything, being-smited-wise. So any A.D. claim that someone needs to wipe someone else out, or that God wants us to convert people [i]on pain of death[/i] is coming from A.) a politicker, or B.) a complete whackjob. On another note, I was going to say that God didn't "invent" religion, or even set religion in place. Id' be wrong if I said it, though, on these grounds: Religion, in my mind, is a set of rules and practices which one follows in order to A.) Worship God, and B.) gain salvation. In the Old Testament, God most certainly set things up. Anyone remotely familiar with Exodus, etc. is aware of this. Rules about food, drink, relationships, sacrifice, worship, [i]the judicial system[/i]?it's all there. So, yeah, definitely. God invented religion. However, Christ's actions abolished the need for such Old Testament rules. The author of Hebrews writes emphasizing that Jesus has fulfilled those rules once and for all. (They no longer need a high priest, since Jesus is the ultimate high priest.) By hanging on to old practices, rules, and traditions, they were minimalising what Christ had done. So it stands at this: God set religion in place so his people would know how to worship him and atone for their sins. Religion was a mediator, taking a sinful people and temporarily cleansing them so that they could be closer to God. In the New Testament, Christ abolishes the need for such rules. He was/is our mediator, permanently bringing those who accept him close to God?without the need for any rules, relegated system of worship, etc. New Testament churches (the book of Acts through today) provide rules and traditions set in place by man. Not God. The are based on interpretations of God's Word, but that is open to each individual to decide for themselves. There's no longer a standard that needs to be maintained in order to attain salvation. As a result, we have religion today. [/color]

[color=#6699cc]Yeah, people die all the time. But people who watch his news broadcasts grew very accustomed to him, and probably felt oddly close to him. The guy was with ABC for forty years. There are millions of people who feel some sort of connection there. I haven't watched the news for years and years, but I remember thinking when I was small that he reminded me of... sort of a grandfatherly character. Kindly, interesting, reliable. That impression never left, and I doubt I watched thhe news [i]that[/i] often as a kid. Just a piece of Americana, I guess. ...I know I was brokenhearted when Fred Rogers died.[/color]

[color=#6699cc]I passed Polliwog level at the local YMCA. That counts, right? I'm a very poor swimmer. I can scoot around in water five feet deep, and I'm fine. I'll swim, splash, try to do backflips, and all sorts of things. If the water's deeper than I am tall, though, I won't get in, because I know that I panic. Which is really too bad, because I love the water.[/color]

[QUOTE=Mitch]I don't know how helpful I can be, but I guess my main question would be, do you know how to gallop? Knowing how to gallop is pretty much essential for Standard or Heavy of "Tsugaru." Other than that, all I can say is practice it. I learned how to do gallops by going into Training mode and putting "Tsugaru"'s speed slower. Then I only chose the gallop part of the song and did it over and over and over and over again until I got it. Might work for you, if that's what your problem is.[/QUOTE][color=#6699cc]I can do the steps, I can just never quite get them at the right time. I don't really play often enough (just together at friends' houses or on rare occasions at the arcade) to really [i]practise[/i] the song, but when I do try it, I just can't get it. I start a hair too soon, or something. [/color]

[color=#6699cc]I really like [i]Butterfly[/i] for some reason. It's just such a fun song to dance to (and not necessarily DDR). And I love [i]Speed over Beethoven[/i]. I also like [i]Breakdown[/i] and [i]Nori Nori Nori[/i]. I really despise [i]Tsugaru[/i]. I've never been able to do it well. No matter what level I try it at, I'm always off.[/color]

[color=#6699cc]I never saw it on TV, but I've watched a few episodes on DVD. I thought it was pretty funny, but I can see why some people wouldn't like it. I think you have to be in sort of an open, goofy mood to enjoy the show. Otherwise, it gets tiresome quickly.[/color]

[color=#6699cc]Other than what has already been sugggested here, I recommend "being healthy" for a day. I know that when something's been bothering me for a long stretch at a time, I tend to let myself go, and that only hurts the way I feel. Wake up early. Go for a walk. Come back, have orange juice and toast for breakfast. Take a bubble bath or otherwise pamper yourself a bit. Allot yourself some money ($20 or so) and go shopping. Buy yourself a CD, a book, or a pair of socks, or shop the clearance aisle/rack at your favorite store. Eat something light or healthy for lunch (like a deli sandwich from a coffee shop). Go to the library, or chill at a park for a while. Doing this for one day obviously isn't a long-term solution, but I can't believe that you wouldn't feel better afterwards.[/color]

[color=#6699cc]Moonstar night and Docbatman, welcome to the Boards. [b]Docbatman[/b], please put some more effort into your posts. [b]Moonstar night[/b], switch to decaf. :) In all seriousness, though, calm down. Work on your post quality. Explain why you're so upset, for example. And lay off the smilies. 'Kay? If you don't improve your post quality, you will be subject to a ban warning.[/color]

[color=#6699cc]You eat weird stuff in college, believe you me. Even if you've got a near-endless supply of pre-paid meals at the cafeteria, by 3rd quarter you never want to see another salad bar again. So you start mixin' it up a bit. I discovered that tunafish and peanut butter sandwiches are quite good, for example. And there's a guy on my floor who did some stuff with Ramen Noodles that was worthy of a gourmet restaurant.[/color]

[color=#6699cc]Please remember to [b]keep things civil[/b]. Thank you. [quote name='Ilium][COLOR=DarkRed']Ask your RE teacher how the two Egyptian priests managed to turn their staves into snakes, even if they were supposedly eaten by the bigger one. The only explanation, by the bibles on logic, is that there are more G(g)od(s) than just the supposedly almighty one. That's my personal favourite, because, if you believe the bible, that means that you believe in more than one god, therefore making you both a pagan and a devout which is a bit of a paradox. I usually get a kick out of it.[/COLOR][/quote]Ah, Who? got to this just before I did. In Exodus, Aaron (brother of Moses) goes before Pharoah, and his staff turns into a snake. My Bible says that "the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their secret arts." I suppose you can look at this any way you'd like. And there are plenty of places in the Bible where you can point and say, "Surely [i]this[/i] contradicts itself!" But rest assured that in the thousands of years that there have been followers of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, someone has come up with an explanation for it. In this case, Christians do not deny that there are other supernatural beings. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown, eat your heart out), anyone? The other gods, on the occasions that they do anything, are accepted as being outlets of the devil or other demons. One all-powerful God, many lesser beings/servants. God and the devil are not equals, God is always greater. ----- [QUOTE=Sage]Sure, you can explain everything by that... ;P It's the same as "the wizard did it!" Your faith is a practical little thing, isn't it? It takes away all needs to think for yourself, or actually wonder about anything ever. Simple solution to simple people, I say...[/QUOTE] It's true that many people who are raised Christian (such as myself) are not encouraged to think for themselves in the way that you are saying. Believe me, though, when I say that, Christian or not, little kids ask questions. :) It is a matter of what they given as answers that influences how they look at the world. I do find it rather offensive that you would imply that faith is a simple answer to life's problems and questions. I can tell you--it's a downright [i]sucky[/i] answer. The questions you may ask a Christian about his faith--"Why do you believe this? How can you believe that this happened? Science has proved, is proving, and [i]will prove again[/i] that this cannot have happened!"--These are questions we ask ourselves, as well. And if you find the answer hard to swallow, don't you think that someone [i]who is staking their eternal fate on it[/i] would find it moreso? The questions are there. The disbelief is there. The easy answer is [i]not[/i] "because he's [i]God[/i]." It is [i]incredibly[/i] hard for an intelligent, thinking person, to answer a question with, "I don't know. But he's God, and he can do it." But that, really, is what I see faith as. Do I have that "strong" a faith? No. Right now, I do not. I want answers, I want proof. And I don't have it. And it troubles me. Do I respect people who can believe the impossible? Yeah. I don't always admire them. But I do respect their decision and their choice, and I envy their certainty in life. [/color]

[quote name='James][font=franklin gothic medium']The main thing that appeals to me about Burton is that he's a lot like my favourite children's author, Roald Dahl. His stories are basically family friendly (probably skewed a little toward children), but he doesn't treat children like idiots - he understands that children love horror and the grotesque. Children do love gruesome fairy tales for a reason, afterall. And Burton's films generally have that "gruesome fairy tale" vibe.[/font][/quote][color=#6699cc]I can't even begin to explain how much you hit the nail on the head here. I feel like I should do nothing but quote this paragraph ten times in a row, heh.[/color]

[quote name='Generic NPC #3']One of my dad's friends had some run-in with a lady, I guess you could say. They were applying for some sort of job and he read the name off the application. It said "Female", so obviously he pronounced it as such and was confused. I guess she got really mad because it was supposed to be pronounced like "Tamale" with an F instead of a T.[/quote][color=#6699cc]I've heard that name! My mom was talking about a woman she met at work who either had that name, or whose daughter was named that. And of course, there's always the rumors of people named Oranjello (o RAHN jeh LO) and Shithead (Sha-THAYD).[/color]

[color=#6699cc]I was born in [size=3]March[/size]. I like thunderstorms and mud. I am easily distracted. I often do things on a lark. My mood can change quickly. I'm intelligent. I'm stubborn. I offer hope that summer might finally be on it's way. :) I have a quick temper. I'm creative, but have a hard time sticking with one thing long enough to finish/develop it. And I smell like grass after a rainstorm.[/color]

[color=#6699cc]I've never been big into organised sports. Whenever I try something new, I'm the worst player there, and get yelled at a lot. It's just not my idea of fun. That being said, kicking a soccer ball around with friends is a lot of fun. And I enjoyed badminton and floor hockey in P.E. [/color]

[color=#6699cc]I live in whhat would best be described as "rural suburbs," (there's a brand-new subdivision to the south, a city park to the west and north, and a cornfield to the east), so there are quite a few animals gallavanting about. Ever since I first saw a coyote out here, I get nervous opening the garage door. I'm convinced there's going to be a snarling animal on the other side. Silly, I know. ^_^; I do get a little freaked out at night, too. Sometimes everything's wonderful, and I could fall asleep outside in the hammock. Sometimes I see monsters in the shadows and hide under my covers so they can't get me. *laughs*[/color]

[QUOTE=Japan][COLOR=Navy]I've been thinking about the whole Dumbledore/Snape thing. [spoiler]Maybe Dumbledore trusting in Snape was suppose to be a defect and show that Dumbledore is still human and not some kind of god. He himself did say that he made mistakes from time to time. His trusting in Snape maybe showed that.[/spoiler] Just a thought.[/COLOR][/QUOTE][color=#6699cc]That's something I was trying to say in my first post, but you managed to put it much more eloquently (and coherently. :)) But really, it's so much more [i]fun[/i] when [spoiler]Snape's not evil.[/spoiler][/color]

[color=#6699cc]More on Snape. [quote name='Lunox][spoiler']Even though I still don't like how JK built everything up, Snape... became a likable character for me (seriously, this book made me like a lot of characters I used to hate). Snape's character? I will sum it up: Snape is a good guy pretending to be a bad guy pretending to be a good buy pretending to be a bay guy pretending...confused yet? I still believe that Snape is drifting somewhere along the river of doubt, and that the reason he killed Dumbledore was because it was something planned (the far-fetched theory) or...maybe just because he really does love Draco. Or whatever. I hope JK Rowling really does a fantastic job in the next book of bringing out the human in Snape. [/spoiler][/quote] Right, so I was going to talk more about [spoiler]Snape's motivations and betrayal[/spoiler], but I don't know what to say that Lunox didn't just post. Hm. Well, here goes. [spoiler]I'm still waiting for a better reason why Dumbledore trusted Snape. I always thought he had some sort of unbelievable reason for it, and I find it hard to swallow that it was because Snape "repented" for telling Voldemort about the prophecy. Surely even someone as inclined as Dumbledore to believe the best in people would have a more solid reason than easily-faked remorse? I was pretty surprised when Snape swore the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa (Cissy!). I obviously didn't know what the oath was about, but from the very beginning, we knew it had to be serious. He always intrigued me more as a double-agent than as Harry's Evil Potions Professor. I loved that there was someone (besides Mundungus) on the "good side" that just wasn't [i]likable[/i] on any level. The hours I spent reading the book were also spent trying to figure Severus out. Was he really evil? [i]No, he couldn't be. I like him too much as a nasty good guy![/i] But he made an unbreakable oath! [i]But he could still be good![/i] I assumed that Severus really deeply cared about either Narcissa or Draco. I mean, it's clear that he never fit in with the Order of the Phoenix, but he's got to have a life outside Hogwarts. After he made the vow, he really had no choice but to kill Dumbledore. And while he never particularly [i]liked[/i] Dumbledore or any of the others, it doesn't mean he's [i]evil[/i]. I did like how he called out for Draco to run. Not a typical bad-guy action; they're usually represented as every-man-for-himself. So that made me happy, in a "I am still [i]so[/i] going to kill you, you murdering bastard" sort of way. *laughs* I know I sound silly. But I still really want him to be good.[/spoiler][/color]

[color=#6699cc]I read the book yesterday, and largely enjoyed it. It seemed very rushed to me, but I know that's at least partly due to the fact that I read it quickly. Anyway, my thoughts: I would have [i]really[/i] liked to see more D.A.D.A lessons. [spoiler]All those years of build-up about Snape wanting the job, and what do we see? Nonverbal hexes? I was hoping for some serious Snape awfulness, and didn't really get a lot of it. Not that he wasn't awful, mind, he just wasn't there. I did know something was up when he got the job, though. No one else has lasted more than a year--I liked finding out about Voldemort's application for the job!--so I was holding my breath to see what would turn up with Snape. Well, not really--when he made the Unbreakable Vow, that kinda sealed it, didn't it? But I kept hoping till the very end that he'd be "good." I'm torn between wanting to believe that Snape'll turn out okay* and remembering what Dumbledore said about his mistakes (when he makes them) being huge. There's no doubt in my mind that R.A.B is Sirius's brother. (I could be wrong, but that doesn't mean there's doubt in my mind. :p)Pretty awful about the false horcrux, though. I'd like to know how Regelus got the original out (and replaced the potion stuff). Not to mention, wondering how he knew about the cave, and all sorts of stuff. If Harry's inherited Grimmauld Place, I'd love to find some notes or journal of Regelus's... Hm.[/spoiler] Just for the fun of reading, I'd've liked to have had one more Quidditch match. Room of Requirement! [spoiler]I seriously love everything to do with this room. It's quintessentially Hogwarts to me, you know? Anyway, I would have liked to see more of this--How funny that Harry got to Draco's needed room, entirely by accident, and actually saw the wardrobe. That had to be a dagger afterwards--"Why didn't I sabotage the perfectly innocent broken piece of furniture when I had the chance!" And Trelawney cracks me up. [/spoiler] As for the title and the Half-Blood Prince himself... [spoiler]Like Shinmaru, Snape was my first guess. And the title... Well, Snape did play a large part, but it was all behind the scenes. It seemed like he even had less "page space" than in previous books. Of course, that's as Severus. As the "Half Blood Prince" from the potions book, he turned up quite a bit. Do you think he actually made all the hexes that he had scribbled in the margins? Anyway, I think the title was fine, especially because of Harry's reliance on the book, his continued suspicions of Malfoy and Snape, and the final battle with Severus. It kinda irked me that Harry was right about his obsessive Draco thing. I mean, okay, the Draco bit was brilliant, but the actual "entire book of Harry telling people things and no one believing him" has been done. *crooked smile* *more on this later. [/spoiler][/color]