Of course I say "don't marathon it" but what does it look like I've been doing x_x

"You think of yourself as a hero but do you know your reputation in Korea?" OUCH THAT HURT. Didn't see it coming. Am shamefully not swotted up re Japanese invasions of the mainland. See, when I say Mirage lacks gen fans what I mean is I need people to discuss the implications of this sort of passage with me.

Of course, in the annals of Lines People Really Didn't Want To Have To Hear, that one still falls quite a ways below "Hullo, Mitsuhide. Haven't seen you since the Honnouji incident, have I?"

Would anyone like me to make a linkpost re the actual historical Yashashuu members plus assorted onshou (given that I, uhm, know crap-all about Japanese history other than what I've learnt from the intarweb, T's textbooks and tsutanai), or have y'all taken full advantage of Google and Wikipedia already? ...Ahh, screw it. For the sake of reference:

Uesugi Kenshin. From which we learn that the man did not start off as either Kenshin or an Uesugi, which is sort of a general theme of this period. No women, much sake. Apparently this led to a crack rumour that Kenshin in fact was a woman, which perhaps explains Paku Romi (if you don't know what I'm talking about, worry not haha).

List of Uesugi generals (this whole site is rather good for quickie lookups). A surprising - okay, not really surprising is it - number of these people do crop up in Mirage; even if they're not mentioned by name I imagine a whole bunch of them were at Aso *weep*. That and read about the Yashashuu plus Kagekatsu's traumatic parentage. XD; Drawing a chart comes in handy. Also, Naoe Nobutsuna isn't in there because he's terribly obscure. There's an oddly compelling logic behind why Kuwabara picked him to pick on, though, which goes roughly like this:

Naoe Kanetsuna was one of Kenshin's loyal retainers from his early days - iirc he was one of the people who convinced him as a teenager to make a claim for the leadership of the Nagao family. He was considerably older than Kenshin and lived to an advanced age, but had no son and only one(?) daughter, whose name was Ofune I think but don't quote me on that. Nobutsuna was actually the son of a branch of the Nagao family, to whom Kanetsuna married said daughter, at the same time adopting him as heir. After Otate and Nobutsuna's death (Kanetsuna having died before Kenshin), in order to continue the family name, Kagekatsu had Ofune marry - well, damned if I could ever read his original name kanji but Higuchi something, and that was Naoe Kanetsugu. Who is famous. You know it because he's in video games. Thus,

Kenshin (father) -> Kagetora (obscure adopted son 1) -> Kagekatsu (famous adopted son 2)
Kanetsuna (father) -> Nobutsuna (obscure adopted son-in-law 1) -> Kanetsugu (famous adopted son-in-law 2)

.....Makes sense? x_x Oh, and Kanetsugu was Kagekatsu's lover from before he was a Naoe. Somebody'll probably spork me for leaving that point out. Although I swear I won't talk about the Helmet of Love. The point is, by fangirl logic the Uesugi are obviously supposed to have a Naoe each the way Fowls have Butlers or Bagginses have Gamgees, so if you're going to make Saburou Kagetora the protagonist of your book (which is a great idea all things considered, because his backstory is so much plot/angst-fodder), you had better assign him a Naoe as well.

On Kagekatsu, Nagahide etc. ...Uh, tomorrow. *goes back to reading book*

Also

BWAHAHA MY ICONS ARE BACK AND I WILL NEVER HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN

(I should really take an evening out and systematically make icons to represent all my fandoms. As in, like, CHIBI BUNNY TAKAYA.)

Memeage

Tagged by sesame_seed: ( fandom meme. )

Don't wanna tag, because this one is long, and thus a bit of a heavy parcel to randomly drop into other people's laps. Unlike the following one, which is at least snappy:

List five songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words or even if they're any good but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your five songs. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.

Why is it that some people have five songs in the meme but some have six? x_x And isn't this, like, what I do every week anyway? Well, here're this week's FWIW:

1) Goldfrapp - UK Girls (Physical): if this were classical music it would be called "Variations on a Theme by Olivia Newton-John".

2) La Casa Azul - En noches como la de hoy: from moderntime's Modapop compilation, which now that I've had a chance to listen to it I am seriously ♥-ing. Shooby-dooby whoo-oh in Spanish!

3) Röyksopp - Circuit Breaker: am liking this album more and more. It was a mistake to think of it as a coherent album in a single style to be listened to from end to end, like Melody.AM; it's more like one Ibiza dancepop track, one Tears For Fears song, one Kosheen song, one Annie ballad, one Erlend Øye side project collab... This one v. v. sexy, and probably fun to breakdance to.

4) Susheela Raman - Nagumomo: my favorite track off both albums, I think. There's a duet version of this with Cheb Mami I'm really curious to hear.

5) Niyaz - Nahan: Six Degree Records again, for all you Bebel fans - this album is hott.

6) Ethan - In My Heart (Radio Edit): according to Audioscrobbler (everything else I've posted). From surlykitty. I... I need a full version. *weeps*

Fandom st00pidity

Finished Mirage 19 on the metro this morning. Managed not to scream out loud in public ("Go help him, Naoe!" or some such) but immediately proceeded to lose 60$, as was so distracted by the vision in my head that after taking money out of the bank machine I left the building with my card but not the actual bills. Realised it all of forty-five seconds later but it was too late and someone had walked off with it. Geebus, some days you can only laugh at your own otaku retardedness. I'd be a lot more upset if it were a possession I were attached to, like a purse or a CD player, but money is only a few hours sitting at a computer.

( Now reading vol.20 on lunch break. )