Lately, I’m leaning across watching anime rather than cartoons when I’m in my feel-like-watching-animation phase. Maybe it’s my disillusionment with Hollywood in general or maybe it’s my inner Asian geek reasserting itself, but I’ve been watching more anime in the last month than I had in the past seven years. The fact that it’s come up on the eve of exams (perfect time for procrastination) is a coincidence…really..

Case in point is a show called Fruit Basket. Essentially the show is about a girl called Tohru Honda who discovers that members of the Sohma family turn into animals of the Zodiac (the Chinese one). So the show covers all the crazy hi-jinks and awkward moments that define Japanese cinema in general.

Here are some of my favourite quotes:

Yuki: "Since when do we have a rice cooker?"
Tohru: "I found it in the trash!"

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Kyo: "Wipe that smug little smirk off your face before I come over there and do it for ya. Yeah, you’ll be sorry then, won’t ya, and I’ll make you say it."
Yuki: "I’m sorry."
Kyo: "Shut up! You’re a real wise-ass, you know that?"
Yuki: "At least I’m not the noisy idiot who’s causing a scene outside the store."
Kyo: "Oh, you’ve done it now, girly boy! We’re taking this outside!"
Yuki: "We already are outside, you stupid cat."

*

Ayame: "Yuki, let’s deepen the bond between us brothers!"
Yuki: "Before you can do that I’ll drown you in the deepest part of that lake."
Ayame: "As long as we spend time together."
Yuki: "On second thought, go drown yourself."

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Shigure: "So anyway I was wondering if you could come take a look at Tohru’s cut? That is when you think you can spare the time."
Hatori: "Fine. I’ll drop by the house this evening."
Shigure: "Aha! What’s this, Hatori? I don’t think I’ve heard you sound so eager to come over. Could it be you have a secret crush on Tohru?"
(Shigure’s phone shows three dots slowly appearing from Hatori’s speaker.)
Shigure: "Ah! I guessed right, didn’t I? You naughty, naughty man!"
Hatori: "No, I was simply too amazed by your stupidity to say anything."

What if the songs described what was ACTUALLY happening in the video clip. Well, your musings have been answered:

I’ve heard the original version and this parody is pitch perfect which is creepy.

…wish you were in an manga or anime.

Background: Referring to my hairdresser who cut my hair

Mum: I like the way she cut your hair this time. In the past, when your hair grew out, it looked like a flower in bloom…

As they do in Japanese animation:

Ah mums and the things they say…

Most of the time with law, it’s unbelievable dry, mundane and plain dull and sometimes, all of the three. It’s hard to muster up genuine enthusiasm about the exceptions to indefeasibility.

However, there are some cases which strike a chord with me. One of them is Liversidge v Anderson

Background: In WWII,Regulation 18B of the Defence (General) Regulations 1939 permitted the Home Secretary to intern people if he had “reasonable cause” to believe that they had “hostile associations”. Mr Perlzweig (under the pseduonym of Liversidge) was detained under these provisions. Anderson refused to give reasons for his decision, so Liversidge brought legal action against the Home Secretary for false imprisonment. The question before the court in evaluating the Home Secretary’s actions, do we use an objective standard, comparing them to that which might be taken by a reasonable man, or were they to measure them against the personal standard of the Secretary?

To cut a long story short, the majority said that we use the personal standard of the Secretary. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with Liversidge’s imprisonment. From my brief research on wikipedia, Liversidge remained bitter until his death

However, the dissenting judgement had one of my favourite quotes:

“In England, amidst the clash of arms, the laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language in war as in peace. It has always been one of the pillars of freedom, one of the principles of liberty for which on recent authority we are now fighting, that the judges are no respecters of persons and stand between the subject and any attempted encroachments on his liberty by the executive, alert to see that any coercive action is justified in law.”

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What I get from that is the importance of standing for my convictions, regardless of the circumstances.

P.S The general consensus now is that the minority decision was the correct one

]]> http://trungsten.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/nerdy-law-student-time/feed/ 0 trungsten http://trungsten.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/eyes-on-the-future/ http://trungsten.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/eyes-on-the-future/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:36:14 +0000 trungsten http://trungsten.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/eyes-on-the-future/ ]]>

Exodus 6:1-9

When the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD.  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD  I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

"Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’ "

Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.

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The one thing that hit me the most from this passage during QT was that despite the incredible promise of God: freedom and a grand future in a land promised to their forefathers, the Israelites just ignored it.

They let their past and their present circumstances blind their eyes to God’s future.

How guilty have we been of doing the same?

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings

Hosea 6:6

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When it comes to ministry and leadership and all that is in between, it’s not about what you do but who you’re doing it for.

One of my favourite bands is Sanctus Real. I bought their song “Closer” three days ago and it is already on my Top 25 Most Played List on Itunes.

I read an interview with the band and this quote from the Matt Hammitt (the lead vocals) really got me:

“When Sanctus Real is over, I will only have God, family, and friends. If I didn’t invest in those things first, it would lead to a bitter end.”

I look back at my high school and early uni days and realised how much time I spent angsting and worrying about marks, uni, my future. I deemed As and getting my OP1 as the ultimate success in life. However, what these achievements masked was a life where the relationships of the closest people around me came close to falling apart.

My success in life will not be in my marks or future job prospects although both are great. It will be the depth and width of the relationships I have with God, family and friends.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill

I had life group with PHUQ2 for the first time in AGES. There was a kaleidoscope of various shades of yellow (thanks Fung) that lit up the place. We celebrated Fung and Winnie’s birthdays, played a cool game which involved a lot of balloons and squatting, discussed about culture in life group and taking ownership, going through some girly magazines (Teen Vogue? Never knew there was such a thing) to do a PHUQ2 collage, and just hung out together.

For the first time in ages, I didn’t worry about how the life group program was going or how everything was progressing, I just sat back, relaxed, worshipped God, spend time with His people and let everything soak in.

I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:11-12

I was digging through my old blog posts in high school (can’t believe it was three years ago) and discovered this MSN conversation I had at the height of the whole “I-hate-school-so-much-that-I’d-pay-someone-to-set-it-on-fire” phase in Year 12.

- || aииiε-maи || 999 bobby pins girl

so if i see you with no hair at the end of term 3

- || aииiε-maи || 999 bobby pins girl

i know you’ve been stressing

- || aииiε-maи || 999 bobby pins girl

u see…i don’t usually threaten ppl

- || aииiε-maи || 999 bobby pins girl

but ill make an exception for you

Memorising a 1300 word eulogy speech is not my idea of fun

lol

Memorising a 1300 word eulogy speech is not my idea of fun

awww I’m so touched

Memorising a 1300 word eulogy speech is not my idea of fun

well continue threatening

- || aииiε-maи || 999 bobby pins girl

oh yes !

- || aииiε-maи || 999 bobby pins girl

i will make you eat three million cheeseburgers

- || aииiε-maи || 999 bobby pins girl

………frm macdonalds

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The point of this conversation? When all else is said and done, it’s these moments that you remember during high school, not the results. I don’t want my OP to be the reason why I loved my high school years. It’s about God and the friends you meet who threaten you with hamburgers.

On a random but slightly related note, someone told me that my Australian Identity English work from Year 11 is still being used as a model answer. I find it ironic that the assessments where I showed an absolute disdain and contempt for the material and subject matter are the ones being used as models while the ones where I showed a genuine interest in the material were marked down. Go figure.

I read a Time Magazine Article about the upcoming Afghanistan elections. Relevant stats for this country is that it’s a fractured country, occupied by troops in the War against Terror and is the fourth poorest country in the world.

While most students their age are working and/or going to uni or complaining about working and/or uni, they want to change to change their country: one wants to run for Parliament, the other is defying death threats and harassment to get a university education.

They want their say in defining how Afghanistan will be run for the decades to come.

I’m 21 – what am I doing to change my world?

God, after this article, I never again want to use my youth as an excuse for not accomplishing your will in my life.