mcalex's abode

Today was a lovely autumn day - coolish, not too warm and just perfect. I should have been studying... :sigh: I will be studying tonight!

I saw this Whitecollar clip on my flist: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5167122

It is an interview/fan Q&A with the two main leads (Tim & Matt) from Whitecollar. It's interesting to see their interaction as they do indeed have great chemistry that translates to their roles. They also mention that when they first did improv together, they hit it off! I think that I heard Tim call Bomer "Matty". And there is a question from a fan in Malaysia (to their credit the actors did not act as if they'd never heard of this little tropical country...!)

In anime news, I just watched the first episode of Working (ﾜｷﾝｸﾞ;　see http://www.wagnaria.com/). I can't place any of the female voices but the guys are Fukuyama Jun, Ono Daisuke (who does a deep un-Ono Daisuke voice) and Kamiya Hiroshi. It's been labelled a seinen comedy... so I'll be curious to see where it goes. I do love the male leads and Fukuyama is one of those actors who impresses me with his range and keeness to pick a variety of very different roles.

I also re-watched some old eps of One Piece; I'm feeling rather sad about One Piece (for obvious reasons) right now and I just want to go back to the days when the whole crew was together. I'm also rather concerned (and nearly certain) that Gintama will go on a break next month. But I love the current arc. Pitting Narita Ken against Sugita and Midorikawa-san is brilliant!

Lastly, I hope that my friends in Melbourne are ok? I mean, no serious/expensive damage to property and to personal selves... I know that hail can be bloody annoying. I hope that you were all indoors and snuggled up keeping warm...

Took this photo whilst in Japantown of San Francisco... the Hello Kitty tree greatly amused me!

Well, we had a half day today at work and it was a relief to leave just after 12. Met up with yokiem and partner for lunch and then on a whim, decided to go watch Avatar in 3D... which I really enjoyed. I can't remember which movie it was which I first saw Sam Worthington in... it was an Australian movie and I remember him in dungarees or something and me thinking he was cute. He's still cute (and probably one of the few international Aussie male actors I actually think is rather attractive!).

( Going to work next week, banged my head or something etc etc etc )

I think that all the xmas cards I've sent should have arrived by now though only two people have actually mentioned receiving any cards... so I hope they arrived! littlegothsin, I received your xmas card today! Merci beaucoup!

Also, been reading Hirata's blog and I'm amazed that he's still working hard right before xmas, heading to Osaka with Akemi-san and Mayumi-san. Though... I find it cute that he refers to Mayumi-san as 子供船長　at times....

So... before I run off to watch Gintama, I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

I've been busy since I got back from the US... As in busy working and getting stressed out. There are many moments when I don't like my job; I like my colleagues and I like it that my boss is very understanding about me coming in late or just flexible with me but there just is a hell lot to do and because of that I've been busy to the point that I'm not happy...

( Boring work comment )

I can say that I've sent off all the overseas xmas cards this week... if you want one you can still ask for it here but it'll probably arrive late :)

Apart from working, I haven't been exercising much... which isn't good. I lost 4-5 Kgs in the US and I'd like to keep that weight off!!! I hope to do more swimming now that it's nice and warm and also just wind down.

In non-personal news, I'm happy that I've now finished watching The Wallflower, an anime I bought in the US. As I previously mentioned, I bought it in the US and was pleasantly surprised to hear Sugita's voice in it. I really loved it and I thought it was very funny and well produced!

( Hirata's blog and pictures of Nakai-san )

Here is a sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge I remember that day because it was the first day I arrived in San Francisco and I had walked around from 11am (when I arrived from the airport) till 3pm in the city and then, l I took a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge. I remember walking from the bridge to the Marina to find a bus stop on Filmore Street. And since I didn't know how to find the bus stops, I walked for hours and later learnt later that I walked for 5 miles I think...! Plus I walked so much till I was walking in the dark after sun set!


And I'm off to watch the latest One Piece ep because I can't watch the movie right now...

And I really want to thank everyone who gave me a snowflake - I'm sorry I haven't been around but it's just been a busy week!

EDIT: Anyone else watching Ep 427 of One PIece? Maybe my ears are deceiving me but I swear I heard some of the other seiyuus in it; Kappei and Hirata...

I've wasted my day doing nothing! Yes, that's a big FAT NOTHING.

I slept, I cleaned the room, I went through stuff and I didn't study or catch up on shows as I thought I would...!

To be honest, I'm quite annoyed! I bought this anime dvd from the US; the Wallflower, which has Sugita in it (though I didn't know at first). I've been TRYING to rip it so that I can play it on my iphone but with no luck.

I mean, I can rip it but not the subs. ( Details )

Speaking of Sugita, I loved the latest Miracle Train ep. I think that the series is finally kicking off! I mean it's now gathered some pace and humour. The last ep with the guys all swapping roles was amusing because it gave the seiyuus a chance to imitate each other, which confused the hell out of me, since they did a good job!

Anyway, I'm back to sorting out the room - I've mostly unpacked and musing if I can sweet talk my sister into buying me something I missed out on in the US...

A quick reminder that my previous post asked for xmas card details - pls respond if your'e interested in a charity card from Aust :)

And because I just love April from my brand new One Piece calendar:


I'm pretty sure that some of the fangirls would love Sanji in glasses... me I love the three of them lying down in a park somewhere!

I bought a lot of stuff from the US... I mean, stuff that I'd always wanted and had been saving up for months so that I could buy them there.

But I don't think that I loved anything the way I loved these!



click on the links for a larger pic

Basically these are huge calendars (the coke bottle is for comparison) and I bought the One Piece one in San Francisco's Kinokuniya and the Gintama in NYC. I would have bought a xxxHOLIC one if there were one... but these make me a happy fan girl :)

Also, can you blame me that my favourite page is the one with Sanji, Zoro & Choppy lying together?

I'm beginning to think that my constant cold is some sort of pyscho symptomatic illness... to avoid work...!

( It's not that I hate my job )

At least, I'm sort of catching up on shows. And I finally saw Ep 110 of Gintama... which guest starred the rather talented Konishi Katsuyuki (aka Shouri and Komui). LOL it was quite amusing because he does such great comical voices and paired off against Ishida Akira, they work well together! I think that the only actor missing from Gintama is Sakurai Takahiro... he's about the only person I know of who hasn't guest starred.


Pic of the day:
kirei_seimei and I were in one of the department stores' basements in Ginza... and whoa...!


I helped myself to one of those strawberry tarts! Strawberries are my favourite fruit and I go nuts over them!

Another interesting fact I just realised today: when I was in Tokyo, I stayed in a hotel in the Kabuki-cho district. Gintama is set in Edo and I think Gin may actually live in Kabuki-cho because there are quite a number of references to it.

Well, it's incredible how easy one slips back into the mundane that is life. I guess my life is almost routine because I don't need to think to get up and go to work and do my job everyday. It wasn't hard to go back to work after my lovely holiday in Japan but I do think I need more holidays!

I bought a tonne of anime-related stuff and one day I'll go back to buy more and see more of that country. Thank you to kirei_seimei for helping me find my way around in Tokyo.

( I have a dreamwidth account... )

Like everyone else, I too have now seen the latest Star Trek movie. I loved it! To be honest, I wanted to see it this weekend because I wasn't going to take the risk that someone wasn't going to spoil me because I've noticed many comments outside LJ-cuts and I know some people don't really see the point of hiding things...

( The one observation I had was... )



I've made two new headers - one SPN con footagey type and another from the anime Hetalia Axis Powers. I think I miss making stuff and I haven't done anything in ages.

For those interested in Cherry Blossoms, here is a pic of some. This is at Koen-kami Station, in Hakone (more specifically Gora). My hotel was 5 mins from the station.


click on the pic for a larger version

Off to revise my Japanese...