gogmagog | ZOMG WE LOVE TEH DRAMA (Reply)

Happy birthday to

shinkun! May you never be eaten by demons!

I have a rant about

yaoi_daily. (Which I suppose extends to yaoi fandoms in general, and isn't really anything new, but still bugs me.)

See, yaoi manga (aka guy/guy manga) often have a girl as a "rival in love" for one of the guys in the yaoi coupling. (Or at least she expresses interest in the guy.) And sure, sometimes she's a cold-hearted, stone-cold bitch who steamrolls everything in her way. But sometimes it's just a nice girl who maybe doesn't realize the guy she likes is actually gay for his classmate/coworker/whatever. Or a girl who is competing for the attentions of a bisexual male, and figures hey, she's got just as good a chance as the other guy in a way that's not at all hostile or bitchy.

But it seems to me that SO MANY PEOPLE make no distinctions. Specifically, I'm thinking of a manga Awkward Silence (currently being posted on

yaoi_daily, but it's only a representative example), which is a cute story about two high school boys who are in love, but one of them has problems expressing his emotions. Now, see, once they've finally confessed and are in a relationship with each other a new transfer student - a girl - shows up. She's pretty and perky and very friendly to both of the guys, and spends quite a bit of time with each. Guy A gets jealous about the amount of time she spends with Guy B, and vice versa. They're both all "omg what if he likes her better than me? ;_;"

Now, I think it's pretty clear that she may like one or both of the guys, but she clearly doesn't know they're in a relationship (no one does), and when she finds out she'll probably be kinda embarrassed (and if they're having problems because of her presence, she'll probably end up helping them get back together). Because, y'see, she seems really NICE. But it seems like half the comments in the entries where she appears are all "OMG WHAT A HOBAG SHE'S RUINING EVERYTHING I HOPE SHE GETS EATEN BY WILD DOGS," etc. (Fortunately, the other half are all, "wtf are you talking about, let's give her a chance before we haul out the pitchforks," which mildly restores my faith in humanity.)

I find it really odd because most yaoi fans are female, and so many are all "OMG WOMEN SUCK THEY SHOULD DIE." And this makes me go, "what the fuck?" And my head starts to hurt.

Anyway, more BPAL reviews! :D

JOLLY ROGER
In the bottle: Oddly enough, kind of floral.

Wet: Fresh, oceany-smelling with a hint of bay rum. More subtle than I was expecting from the description, but I like that. It smells very clean and natural and gender-neutral.

Dry: Sweetens up a little and is a little less astringent. It's still very clean-smelling and...peaceful? I dunno how to describe it any better, but it smells OH SO GOOD.

Verdict: Ho yes, this is a bottle purchase if ever I smelled one. *adds 5ml to list to buy*

SUGAR SKULL 2005
Revisited! Vibrant with the joy and sweetness of life in death! A blend of five sugars, lightly dusted with candied fruits. This was one of the implets - about 1/5 full - that

quikslvr sent me along with the full imps I ordered. :D

In the bottle: Slightly alcoholic and sweet, with a touch of baking spices.

Wet: Sugar and spice (nutmeg, perhaps) with a faint alcoholic undertone. This is kind of what All Night Long smelled like in the bottle, before it went all turmeric-y.

Dry: Pretty much the same as when wet. I'm not getting any fruit smell at all, which surprises me.

Verdict: Nice, but I'm not sure I want to run around smelling like French toast on a regular basis. XD
Edit: After several hours it did indeed turn into something more like I was expecting - basically sweet sugar with a faint golden vanilla-fruity note. Which is making me have to re-evaluate it and decide that I like it a bit more than I originally thought.

IAGO
Malevolent, dark and shadowy: sinuous black musk, wet leather and vetiver. I'm totally working my way through every BPAL "masculine" scent out there. XD

In the bottle: Nice men's cologne from a department store with a hint of incense.

Wet: Still kind of cologne-y, but with a kind of fresh green scent. ...no wait, that's the BPAL leather/tobacco scent (whatever it is) that I hated in De Sade, which is rapidly turning cigarette-smokey. Hopefully it'll fade a bit and blend in like it did with Gaueko.

Dry: Actually, it did blend in a bit, and ends up smelling a bit like a cross between cologne and the incense burned at a Catholic mass.

Verdict: I kinda like it, actually, but I think it might be a bit too smoky for me. I'll have to give it another try.

Let's Positive Linking!
- Encyclopedia Dramatica. ~~TNT~~ LJ: WE KNOW DRAMA.
- IT company bans complaining. (From

surlykitty.) I can't imagine that helps morale. XD
- Family loses home to Katrina, then son killed in Iraq. The mother's STILL waiting on a FEMA trailer, so she's understandably kinda pissed. :(
- K-Fed begins rap "career". Because apparently it's not fulfilling enough for Mr. Britney Spears to spend all his wife's money on PIMP tracksuits for their wedding and on crappy-looking manpris.
- Meet ELIZA. No, not Dushku, sadly; the computer Rogerian therapist from several decades back, that apparently fooled some people into thinking it was a real person. It's been replicated as a Java applet. Ask it about sexual deviancy for extra fun! :D