Back to a subject dear to my heart - songs that inspire me while writing fics.
Currently I am writing an adventure-y little angst drama thing featuring Kohza and Vivi. Why? Because they are destined to be together. (glares at anyone who tries to say otherwise.) Good I'm glad we all agree they are destined to be with each other.
So I happened to come across some kick ass fanart by at Cartoon Heroes. It's a picture of Kohza in the desert and there's Vivi, kind of transparent, in the upper left corner (like he's thinking of her) and in the upper right corner are these lyrics to Sting's song, Desert Rose. Let me fill you in on them.
I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in pain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand
I dream of fire
Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire
And in the flames
Her shadows play in the shape of a man's desire
This desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this
And as she turns
This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams
This fire burns
I realize that nothing's as it seems
I dream of rain
I lift my gaze to empty skies above
I close my eyes, this rare perfume
Is the sweet intoxication of her love
Sweet desert rose
This memory of Eden haunts us all
This desert flower, this rare perfume
Is the sweet intoxication of the fall
The reason these lyrics are perfect for Kohza is because of the juxtaposition of the ideas of rain, dreams, gardens, Eden, and empty skies mixed with the longing of love. It's the Alabasta Arc in a nutshell (turning Yuba into an oasis, the drought, etc.) plus Vivi! Yeah! And I suck at explaining why this inspires me, but it does beyond belief. This is a song that drives me on to write - no sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this song.
Yet I have to be careful because the song is so appropriate for the story that I find myself stealing words and phrases; I can't do that. I have to maintain control of the story. It's very difficult to do that though in a sweeping desert epic - a person tends to get lost beyond the horizon or the bazaars of the dusty trading cities - must maintain self-discipline...
:: 9:37 AM
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:: Thursday, October 24, 2002 ::
WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! OPIATE ROCKS HARD!
First off, people actually read my shite. That is amazing because...it`s usually insane. Especially Smut Garden. But I have fan-art now! That is freakin` awesome. I am reverting to high school language here! This is great!
OKAY! LET'S STAND UP! Under the weight of all this One Piece swag I bought.
Yes, there are perks to living in a rice field and one perk would be that I can go to Hiroshima and buy out Animate. Happy Un-B-Day to me, my friends! I have picked up some lovely doujinshi - RSK is the circle to read if you are a Vivi obsessed girl, which I am right now due to the Alabasta Arc (I gots sand in my pants again!.) There was this horrible little teaser at the back - a what happens next if you will - where Mr. 9 shows up on the doorstep of the palace. And Kohza ain't none too pleased with that! So now I have to track down more RSK and order it from the bastards. Jerks - making me fork out money for my OP crack.
Moving on - picked up some used OP DVDs and can watch Shanks lose his arm over and over and over again. 'The men standing before you are pirates!' And the fangirl standing before you is drooling...
But I was good - I bypassed the Luffy and Chopper pillow; the billion and one keitai attachies, the stickers, the stationary, argh, but the calendar got me. It has some scrumdiddlyumptious pics. I needed to have a lie down after looking at it - which is difficult to do in a crowded store.
Oh and I picked up some other manga (Nana and Gokusen), but no one would care here because it is not OP.
As for the anime, yesterday was 'Vivi makes a decision' episode. The episode was AMAZING! First off, Bon-chan rocked hard. He was seriously kicking tail there and the slow-mo meeting of him and Hina was awesome! No fight to see because there has to be mystery, but just the potential - the potential was there. Then Vivi made her decision and we all know how that ends. So the crew are standing there, arms raised, and then the Marines start firing cannons and the cannonballs are making huge splashes in the water, drenching everyone, but they stand there and stand there! I can't explain it; you have to see it! Then the music picked up and that vicious hated TO BE CONTINUED red death's head screencap came up! What a way to say goodbye!
sniffles...
I'm gonna go have a good cry and comfort myself with my doujinshi and dreams of a desert rose...
Damn you Cartoon Heroes for your awesome fanart.
:: 6:24 AM
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:: Thursday, October 17, 2002 ::
No posting because a) I am in the midst of about four OP fan fics now and they are taking up my time, b)work but that is boring and not OP, c) lack of new OP eps to go on about, d) haven`t gotten the new Shonen Jump because I am lazy, e) work, did I mention I have a job, and f) I wanted to update interesting parts of my websites because I seriously doubt that anyone really reads this drivel except Skippy aka `I wish I was as much as an arrogant snob as Mr. Darcy` Boy.
Hopefully Sunday won`t be pre-empted for a damn comedy special retrospective. Un-nan Comedy Hour is amusing but it is not OP.
Oh, the one hour special was fabulous. There was nekkidness, there was Hina, there was the touching `Tell them to `eat shit`` comment from Smoker (he is SO da man), there was the craziness at the special dinner, there was Bon-chan, there was Jango and Fullbody. There was a new ending song called Family and sung by the VA cast. There was a retrospective of all the events concerning Vivi since entering the Grandline. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! next week`s ep is going to be SO SAD!
And then the real party begins. Muwahahahaha.
My ONLY disappointment was Fullbody and Jango - we need Jango`s Dance Heaven Arc explained. Buggy got his - Coby got his - where is Jango and Fullbody? Huh? People who don`t read the manga and don`t know about the splash page adventure are going to be very confused. That must be explained! It must! I really, really, really hope they do that for the show, but I may be disappointed.
Then again, Nami got to use her special attack - the Pleasure Punch, so I may be alright after all.
Today I was thisclose to cos-playing Vivi. Okay, I wasn't. But I had her tight ass white shorts from the Whiskey Peak Arc. I hate those shorts. Why are we required to wear them for festivals?
Anyway, it is a mere five minutes until the new one hour special for One Piece! YAH! But from what I'm seeing it will be seriously lacking the nekkidness for which I have been anticipating since...when did that come out in WSJ...about six months now. That would be sad, but guess what? It isn't really. Not to me at least.
Hmm, I am way plastered. I think I'm going to stop typing now. Kimochi iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.........
:: 6:45 AM
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:: Friday, October 04, 2002 ::
I work very hard to keep work and my personal hobbies (aka OP) very separate. People take issue with a grown adult (yeah, I wish) having an interest in a child's show, even if said child's show spurred me to take my Japanese studies very seriously. Whatever.
Anyway, today, one of the kids decided that when we were doing the letter 'M' and drawing pictures of money, she would draw berii, which I found amazingly cute.