[Glory Box]

--Just a little post to update you guys on my whereabouts XD

First of all, you have to know that I'm experiencing some troubles with the internet... I think that I got some virus on my PC, as the connection of my father is fine D: But I'm not in the mood to have my PC checked, so, in these days, I just focused less on my internet and more on my real life: reading, watching TV, going outside for a walk-- I must say that I'm fine with this turn of events, even if watching anime oin streaming in such a condition can get really frustrating Dx !

The bigger cause for my net inactivity is, paradoxally, my Rome's blog:


Going around to check the places and visit them sure is time consuming and tiring, and once I'm home I'm happy, but tired XD

I'm also spending more time watching TV, entertaining myself with some documentaries of sort :D
Besides the artistic ones (Rai5 for ever!) and the naturalistic ones (Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan! KYAAAAH ♥ !!), I like that stuff featuring millionaire things-- For example, Million Dollar Rooms-- Everyone tells me that I should quit with such things, but they are so interesting ;_; --I want an aquapark in my garden, too T^T !!

On the anime front, here's what I'm going to watch this season:
I'm expecially looking forward to Barakamon and Nobunaga Concerto.
I'm going to give a try to bishounen stuff like DRAMAtical Murder and Shounen Hollywood... As I'm relatively reassured with DRAMAtical (Nitroplus ♥ ) I'm still doubtful about Hollywood... I won't tollerate any "otome shit" here :/ --But for now I'm quite reassured by a "male only" cast.
I'm also looking forward to the second season of Yami shibai, after I marathoned the first season yesterday and managed to get to sleep filled with terror T_T; ... Maybe it's the same as with those million dollar rooms XD I should quit that--!

As you may know, I'm not a huge fan of TV series.
I don't know, but compared to anime, it's very difficult for me to find no flaw in them-- Plus the fact that the male protagonist and female protagonist always have to end in some relationship of sort-- Well, MEH.

Today I wanna share some opinions on some series that I got to check in these last days, thanks to the inactivity forced on me by random microbs devasting my breathing system and all its ducts--

HANNIBAL
The first series was finally aired on TV and of course I watched it.
Unfortunately it was victim of a terrible scheduling, it was aired three episodes at time and, well, it's obvious that I couldn't manage to stay up 'til 1 am to watch the culinary dissertations of Mads Lecter-- So I didn't follow it with a certain regularity, I admit it.
It didn't enthuse me as I was expecting to.
As much as I enjoyed the crimes, the photography and the overall "vibe" that I got from it, I found the main actors quite "dull" in their interpretations. I'm not a fan of Mads Mikkelsen (and to be honest I don't know why everybody likes him), I find his interpretation's skills as deep as that of a cucumber. He just keeps having such roles (you know, the impassible, imperscrutable, cold guy) stuck to him so-- I can't really say that I ever saw him "acting", besides going after a mask. ...Then yeah, I'm comparing Hopkins to Mikkelsen, so probably I'm being a bit too harsh... But seriously, this Hannibal looked like nothing like a psychopath.

THE FOLLOWING
This series was pumped up before his premiere on TV as the "series that shocked everyone", focusing all the awe of Kevin Bacon and the references to Poe.
Well, I found it quite stupid.
Here the actors did a good job, but all in all, it still looked like some kind of Beautiful, with everyone moving on because of love/sexual impulses; the Poe references were quite an end in themselves, put there just to give the series a sense of "intellectuality"-- The crimes are really stupid, and the plot 'til I watched it is very weak-- Instead of a strong narrative hand, it just gives the impression that the whole thing moves on because of the characters circumstances... That was quite off the point, assuming that the series is about a group of people "following" the mysterious criminal plan of the "evil masterlord".

THE WALKING DEAD
Some co-workers of mine are all excited about this series, so I decided to give it a try under their suggestion, also if I'm not a great fan of zombie stuff in the first place.
Well, it just reminded me of Lost.
Beside the deja-vu, I was already put off by all the family drama, also if I enjoyed the action, and the zombie make up/special effects were really amazing.

My general impression was quite poor.
I don't understand if it's the TV format that is doing bad to creativity, or all the stuff that came before that forces the authors to focus on the fancy characters instead of the consistency of the story, but I found the series quite disarming in their boredom despite the nice ideas behind them.
Then yeah, I admit that, as you know, I'm not such a "sophisticated watcher": I love stuff like Monk and Criminal Minds that are not "all that better" compared to more pumped series, but they still manage to entertain me instead of just sounding pretentious and self-important.

On a more vague note, I found myself watching quite happily Once Upon a Time, that I snobbed 'til a few days ago, when I started to watch it more or less regularly... I must say that I'm totally fascinated by its interpretations of fairytales and stories, and the characters development :D
I also caught up to the new episodes of Downton Abby, LOL, what can I say, I still like it, despite the cheesy plot-twists! (it looks like nobody is destined to stay happy for long in this series, LOL-- Who was that guy that said that nobody likes to read about people being happy, and some tragedy is always required to make things interesting..? Well, the scriptwriters of this series sure are putting the concept to good use)--

Oh, well. I look forward to your opinions on such series, or the TV series that you're enjoying the most in these days! ...If you ever have one x'D
For now, I'm off to watch anime∼

Today there was Hero on TV. I watched it when it was out at the cinema, but since at the time I didn't know much about Chinese history I just appreciated the visuals... Now, thanks to Kingdom, I came to like the figure of Qin Shi Huang (or Zhao Zheng if you come from Kingdom, or Shi Huangdi if you come from Sangoku Musou).
Source: http://niall93.wordpress.com/category/trailer-analysis-hero/

I can somehow sympathize with the autoritative man at the top of the enstablishment, how it all turns to loneliness once the power-hunger is gone, how his heart gets swallowed by "the rule" once he's supposed to act as that Law that he represents... I mean, not that I've ever been in such a situation myself XD but I can understand that feeling, and I'm fascinated by such characters.
When the King shed that tiny tear (I actually tried to find a screenshot about that, but guess, I couldn't find any >_>; It's no surprise that on teh intraweb the most popular thing of this movie is the fight between Flying Snow and Moon) once he realized that his worst enemy was actually the one who could understand his vision better, I must confess that I got teary-eyed too ;_; SUCH BEAUTIFUL EMOTIONS.

Also, another reason for my symphathy for Zheng is that he reminds me of Nobunaga (despite having different circumstances, both are considered terrible dictators with weird and megalomaniac tastes or the fathers of the Nation depending on the fanbase).
...Even Chen Daoming in the movie looked like I imagine Nobunaga around the time of the Honnoji incident ;_;

Valar Morghulis, my readers!
I was supposed to make this post a while ago, right after the third season of The Game of Thrones was over, but some stuff (like me getting hold of a copy of A Feast for Crows XD) happened and I'm posting about it only now--
Of course, after all this time and all the things I spoiled myself with thanks to the book and its wikia, and obviously since EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT, this won't be a summary or a proper review of the book, but a just brainstorming made of fangirlness and vague thoughts in a random order--
( Why I hate the Lannisters, my favourite characters, the Greyjoys are hot (and wet!) and as Daenerys starts to feel like 'Xena', Arya feels like 'Nikita'-- but a kind of PITIFUL Nikita, since she's a Stark XD )

And well, this short delirium is over XD
See you again for a more proper post next time XD

^{Prima di tutto, ci tengo a dirvi che ho riesumato il mio blog in italico idioma. Se siete in vena di lagne infinite e recensioni saccenti, sentitevi liberi di dargli un'occhiata :D}

This said, I must say that this new year didn't start with a BANG as I hoped, but it's just letting the infausto 2012 crawling over here in all its pitiful ennui.
I'm still hopeful for the many projects that I planned before the end of the previous year, and today I started to poke at some of them. I don't ask you to wish me for good luck 'cause you don't, and when you do, obviously it doesn't work as it should.

Anyway, while waiting for creative updates of sort, here I am to bore you with the recent events of the new year ;D
^{All of this as I keep trying to give myself a schedule of sort!}

Besides the cute greeting of my herpes, I managed to read most of my tiny "Aesthetical Collection", a mini-library of sort sprouted from Dorian Gray and happily degenerating to Lord Reginald for the sake of devilish prettiness, the one I like the most!
Besides those you see in the pic, I'm also trying to read Marius the Epicurean (I confess you that I'm having some serious troubles reading it in English T_T;) and I'm keeping cute The Green Carnation warm on my netbook --I managed to find these two e-books on Project Gutenberg for the joy of my pocket.
If you care about other Victorian books, included those mentioned here, you can give them a free read over Victorian Prose, which includes some interesting essays of Pater, Wilde and others.
Speaking of Wilde and his essays, I suggest you to give a peek here too, and if you're looking for a proper review/summary of The Picture of Dorian Gray: an Annotated, Uncensored Version, you can check this article.

All pumped up by the reading, I tried to start some discussions over the concept of beauty over Tra i Fiori (Mizume's thoughts are a mere regurgitation of Pater's, with a touch of Japanese fatalism) but I failed miserably.
I-- I guess that people have somehow a warped concept of Beauty and Aestheticism nowadays. I would like to get something more than stuff like "Mizume´s opinion of beauty for me was so "silly" that I didn´t undestand it :D", though ;_;

Speaking of more modern and more popular quests, last month I finally managed to watch all of Downton Abbey available!
I'm really enjoying it and I look forward to the new series, but I can't help to see some bothering stereotypes that don't seem to allow a proper character's development. I'm mostly referring to Edith, in case you're wondering. I like what's happening with O'Brien, instead.
And my favourite character is always Violet and will always be x'D My least favourite character is John, that damn puppet!
I don't see why everyone is bashing on Lord Grantham, I mean, for the time he's quite open-minded and kind of heart, after all :/ !
Also, I hope that (nice) people would stop dying ;_; --And as much as I'd like to ship Thomas and Jimmy-- No, I don't wanna suffer again as I did for Thomas/Edward T_T; !!

On the anime/manga front, I'm really glad that Haikyuu! is getting scanlated more regularly! To celebrate the releases, I finally changed my desktop wallpaper ♥
--Those cute boys ;_;

--And now I'm off to watch some Dexter! Instead of wasting time with my friends/co-workers' useless suggestions (see Suits) on tv series I could go and finish watching what I know I like >_>; ! Isn't it a nice New Year Resolution..?

First of all, I finally updated Sameyome! Two pages instead of one today to make up for last week's lack of updates. --We're entering the final part of this webcomic, AWWW, so nostalgic ;o; --!

So, after a few stops due to real life urgencies, I'm finally approaching the end of Nobunaga - KING OF ZIPANGU drama... I'll probably make a serious reviews once I'll finish it, but for now let me show you a few entertaining bits XD--

First of all, Ranmaru showed up ONLY after episode 45.
--EPISODE 45!!! SERIOUSLY ;_; ! --It's 1581!!!
( A few more shots under the cut )

--And LOL, Luis Frois is hot x'DD
Well, showing us this Portuguese Father all bothered and half-naked while chopping wood sure was an-- interesting way to introduce a Christian character XD
I--I approve XD !

Also, Beelzebub's last ED theme is eating my brain ;_;
*does the Papepipupo dance*