I Emerge from my Cave of Anime Solitude...

Okay, so I've fallen into the trap of online anime in a big way. Having a high-speed connection allows me whole new avenues of internet life that I previously had never explored. And now I have at my fingertips easy access to fansubbed anime and manga. This is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it means I can peruse stuff for free (which is very important for us poor grad students) but at the same time it sucks out hours of my life as I get lured into new series. Case in point--I've been drawn into the totally fabulous Naruto.

I'd first heard about this series about two years ago at a Con when a girl was raving to me about how cool it was. I must admit, at the time I sort of tuned it out because for some reason (no idea why really) I was under the (false) impression that Naruto was a sports manga/anime about snowboarding (?). Talk about being WAY off the mark! Anyway, I came across an English dubbed episode on Cartoon Network one night and was immediately intrigued. The show actually appeared to be about ninjas, which was already much cooler in my book. And since I HATE English dubbed anime, I decided to scout about online for some fansubbed episodes. Little did I know what I was getting myself in for....

Let me pause here briefly to reiterate a point I have made about myself several times before. I am psychotically addicted to serialized narratives. No, seriously. It's a compulsion. I can't just "stop" in the middle of a series. I have to keep going until I finish it, or at least as much of it as is already done. Needless to say, after three episodes I was hooked on Naruto and thus began my endless stretch of internet anime viewing...because wouldn't it be just my luck that the series has 186 EPISODES AND COUNTING!!!!! That's right. It's still going in Japan. The manga is farther along than the anime so I'm anticipating this show could go well into 300+ episodes. But anyway, I sat down and watched every bloody episode available. I'm still looking a bit dazed and confused after sitting at the computer for over a week watching 186 episodes of Naruto.

But it's just SOOOO cool!!! And it has great characters, which always wins me over. If I'm diggin' the characters than I will stick with a series indefinitely. And believe me, I already have mad fangirl loyalty to this show already! *Warning: Some spoilers below*

The Main Characters:









Naruto:


The central character of the series, Uzumaki Naruto, is a boy with a mysterious and somewhat tragic past. When he was a baby, the strongest ninja (known as the 4th Hokage) in the village sealed a terribel Nine-Tail Demon Fox inside of his body in order to save the village from destruction. Naruto is unaware that he has this demon fox inside of him, but he has been ostracized by most of the village growing up because they remember all of the destruction and death the demon fox caused before it was sealed away. Naruto longs for acceptance and recognition by the village and often pulls pranks to get attention. He grew up alone without any parents (we don't really know anything about them, but there is speculation the 4th Hokage might have been his father) and he has no real friends. But that changes when he gains the acceptance of his teacher Iruka-sensei and joins the Team 7 ninjas after graduating from the Ninja Academy at the beginning of the series. He forms a strong bond with Sasuke, who he initially hates and perceives of as his rival, which plays a huge part in the story development later on. He has a crush on his other teammate, Sakura. As Naruto develops as a ninja he learns to tap into the powers of the demon fox inside of him, but maintaining control in these situations becomes a precarious balance as the series progresses.


Iruka-sensei is Naruto's academy instructor. He lost both his mother and father to the demon fox when it attacked their village more than 10 years ago. Initially he dislikes Naruto because he knows the creature responsible for his parents' deaths is sealed away inside of him. But he eventually comes to recognize how he and Naruto share some of the same loneliness of not having a family. He also realizes that Naruto is his own person and an asset to the village. His recognition of Naruto is a big turning point for the story and the two share a close relationship even after Naruto leaves the academy. Iruka often takes Naruto out for ramen (his favorite food) and Naruto considers him to be something of a father-figure.

Hatake Kakashi is Naruto's new instructer and leader of Team 7. He's also my favorite character! He's a jounin ninja (elite level) and he is quite mysterious at times. But he's also incredibly funny in a quirky way. He enjoys reading a raunchy series called "Come Come Paradise" and often carries these books around while they are training. He also keeps most of his face covered at all times. His left eye is covered except when he battles difficult opponents, when he uncovers it to reveal a special eye known as the "sharingan" which can read and copy other ninja's techniques. Kakashi is reputed to have copied over a thousand ninjitsus and is an overall badass, which is probably why I like him. In the manga it is later revealed that the special eye he has is not his own, but his dead friend's who bequeathed it to him as a gift long ago. I'm not sure why he covers the rest of his face, however. It has not yet been revealed. In fact, there is one whole episode of the anime devoted to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura trying to find out what he's hiding underneath. (It's super funny because, of course, Kakashi thwarts them at every turn) They speculate he might have a weird looking nose, mouth, or teeth...but I think, and the anime hints at this too, that he might be really good looking underneath and that somehow messes with his badass exterior that he projects. In other words, I'm bettin' he's a big bishie underneath (hee!). I'm hoping his face will be revealed at some point in the manga, but I don't know if that will happen or not.

Uchiha Sasuke is the #1 rookie ninja of the Konoha village. He is one of the last survivors of the famous and powerful Uchiha clan. Like Naruto, he has a tragic history. His older brother Itachi murdered their entire clan, including his and Sasuke's parents when Sasuke was just a small boy. He is firmly committed to getting revenge and killing his brother someday. As a consequence, he has isolated himself from others and his unrelenting focus on revenge comes at a cost. Later in the series, Sasuke is given an evil mark by the villainous Orochimaru and this mark responds to his feelings of anger and hatred toward his brother.
Sasuke slowly starts to lose himself to his hatred and eventually goes over to the dark side and teams up with Orochimaru in the hopes of gaining enough power to destroy his brother Itachi. He betrays his team and nearly kills Naruto in battle when Naruto tries to save him and bring him back to Konoha. At present, it remains to be seen what will happen to Sasuke. Naruto has promised that he will bring his friend back and save him from darkness, but doing so will be harder than he first thought. In the manga, a two and a half year gap occurs between Sasuke's defection over to Orochimaru's side. At that time Naruto trains with Jiraiya and Sakura trains with Tsunade to become a medical ninja. When they reunite it is time for them to once more try and save Sasuke, because Orochimaru wants to take over his body for his own use (this is a special forbidden jitsu that Orochimaru uses to maintain his youth over the years). If Orochimaru manages to take over Sasuke's body they won't be able to save him. Fans are still waiting with bated breath to see how this is going to turn out.

Sakura-chan is the only girl in Team 7 and I have to admit I find her rather annoying. She's madly in love with Sasuke, who ignores her for the most part, and she treats Naruto badly despite the fact that he has a crush on her. She's also really wimpy at first, and does virtually nothing in many of the battles. It's only much late in the series when she finally develops a bit of a backbone and shows how tough she can be. I like her character much better as the series progresses, but it took me quite a while. And I still have moments where I'm like "COME ON!" do something cool already! Show the boys you've got balls! But she still pretty much resides in the shadow of Naruto and Sasuke because they are so much more powerful. Her training to become a medical ninja, however, will probably play a critical role at some point later in the series.

Other Characters of Note:

Orochimaru is the big baddy villain dude. He has all kinds of freaky powers and uses forbidden ninjitsus. He basically wants to take over the world, yadda yadda yadda. He also likes fucking with people's minds and takes advantage of Sasuke's weakness for revenge. Orochimaru can turn various parts of his body into snakes and has the power to transfer bodies. He originally wanted Sasuke's brother Itachi's body for his own, but it seems Itachi is too strong for him to take on...it remains to be seen how the Sasuke-Orochimaru-Itachi triangle is going to pan out.

Jiraiya is one of the legendary "sannin". He, Orochimaru, and Tsunade trained under the 3rd Hokage together. He's a bit of an old geezer perv (stereotype in Japanese manga and anime) who likes to peek on ladies in the hot springs. He also, ironically enough, is the author of the "Come Come Paradise" series of books that Kakashi loves to read. He ends up taking Naruto under his wing and training him later in the series. Despite seeming like a flighty jokester, Jiraiya is one of the strongest ninjas around. He even trained the 4th Hokage (who might have been Naruto's dad) and he teaches Naruto many valuable techniques.

Nara Shikamaru is one of Naruto's fellow classmates from the academy and assigned to a different ninja team. But he's a cool guy who has a knack for appearing at the right time to help out. He's a bit of a lazy schlub who would rather lie around watching the clouds in the sky or playing shogi all day. He takes on more difficult tasks with reluctance but always proves his merit. He has the cool ability to control opponents by latching onto their shadow. He is also a genius when it comes to strategy, which is probably why he likes shogi so much.

Inuzuka Kiba is another school chum on a different team. He's another one of the ninjas I find interesting. He and Naruto have a lot of personality similarities and their interactions with one another are often amusing. Kiba works with a dog named Akamaru and the two can morph into a big man/beast creature to attack opponents or they can become identical doubles and attack together.



Hyugga Hinata is on Kiba's team and she has a big crush on Naruto, which he still hasn't clued into. She's very shy and tends to blush and stammer whenever she's around Naruto. Nonetheless, as a ninja she has some serious power known as the Byakugan, which allows her to see chakra and attack it. She is something of a failure to her family however. She's supposed to inherit her family tradition but her cousin Neji is more powerful than her, which is something of an embarrassment. She works really hard to improve her skills and gain her father's recognition. But even more so, she wants to gain Naruto's recognition and when she does she gains more confidence in herself and her abilities. I'm hoping that she and Naruto end up as a couple later in the series because they're so cute together.

Gaara of the Sand is a baddie opponent who shows up during the Chunin exam. He controls sand and has one of the strongest defenses around. Like Naruto, he has a monster inside of him. When he was born, his father deliberately sealed a monster inside of him to make him more powerful. Gaara is slightly insane as a result, and has never known love. It's only after Naruto miraculously defeats him that he starts to change. Later in the manga he eventually becomes an ally of Naruto's. I can't wait to see this part pan out in the anime!

Okay, that's certainly not every character in the series, but a few of my favorites. Damn, this show has totally taken up way too much of my time lately but it was worth it. Now I just need to read all the manga.... :)

Just a Quick Word

To my wonderful pals and volunteers! I'm running a little behind on my edits for the novel and I have to leave town on Wednesday to go visit the fam for a week. So expect me to send you stuff a little bit later this month. Sorry!

The Ongoing Quest for a Literary Agent

I realize that I've been a bit quiet over the last few months regarding my ongoing pursuit of a literary agent. In part, this is due to the fact that school responsibilities have been interfering with my creative writing endeavors. But by and large it's because I've been procrastinating in the face of rejection. I sent out queries to 8 agents. One asked for a partial and then decided it wasn't for her. The 5 others sent me the rote "we're not interested but thanks for contacting us" responses. The other 2 I still haven't heard back from, so I'm assuming my query got lost in the slush pile.

In looking around online and frequenting a number of authors' blogs I've discovered that acquiring a literary agent is a long and arduous process. Many authors indicate on their websites that they had to send out dozens and dozens of queries before getting representation, and that process itself often takes up to a year or more for most. So I know I need to get off my butt and query some more people. But as a delaying tactic I decided to take some time and revamp my query letter as well as take a second pass at revisions to the novel. Right now I'm finishing up with those and investigating which agents I might like to contact next. But, and this is where you come in dear readers, I need some input on the query letter (especially from Monks and Violet as both of you have read a draft of the novel).

So here is what I'm asking: 1) who would be interested in providing feedback on my query letter? and/ or 2) who would be interested in reading the novel with revisions? I don't have a critique group so I'm totally relying on the generosity of friends who are willing to tell me what sucks and what's good.

Before you commit to anything, let me lay out the particulars. 1) The novel is essentially a pseudo-romance/chick-lit with paranormal/fantasy elements. 2) It's set in Montreal and it's (I think) pretty funny and quirky (in a good way). 3)It does NOT make any aspirations toward literary greatness or narrative brilliance. I consider it "entertainment" reading. 4) For those who don't like romance/chick-lit, this probably isn't a read you'd enjoy (although feel free to naysay me if you think otherwise). 5) Also, for the more faint of heart...there is...um...sex in this book. Yes, I have a dirty, skanky mind. I admit it. :) 6) It is the first in what I envision being a short series (I'm already halfway through the sequel).

So, if you're still interested in being a critique partner/assistant (out of the generous kindness of your heart) then let me know and I can email you the query and/or novel. My only stipulation is PLEASE do not circulate copies of this stuff online. I want to try and get it published some day, so I'm a tad protective of the sucker.

Much love y'all!

Surfing the Crimson Wave and other Menstrual Musings

I've always liked "surfing the crimson wave" as a euphemism for menstruation, as so memomorably articulated by Alicia Silverstone in the movie Clueless. Today I feel the need to talk about menstruation for a couple of reasons. First of all, I've always had a rather vexed relationship with the monthly visitor largely because, well, mine usually isn't quite that regular or predictable a visitor. I mean, if you at least know when it's coming then you can be prepared. But no, mine has always liked to act more like that one dodgy friend who just shows up unannounced and usually at the worst possible time.

Needless to say, I had problems with "irregularity" ever since I started my cycle at the age of 11. Then in undergrad I suddenly stopped getting the period for about six months. When I went to see the doctor at last she recommended putting me on the pill, and I figured that would be a good idea (to help regulate things) and be potentially convenient as well (should I get any romantic prospects). So I ended up staying on the birth control pill for about six years. Then this year all of a sudden my blood pressure was in the borderline high range and my doctor put me on a low dose of hydrochlorothiozide. But it wasn't really having much effect. Now, I'm not the healthiest person in the world, but I had been exercising a few days a week and watching my sodium and all that. We were a bit mystified as to why these efforts seemed to have no impact on my rising blood pressure. Then my doctor suggested I go off the pill to see if that helped. I was unaware of the fact, that among the many other side effects of taking the pill, high blood pressure is a risk.

But I felt very ambivalent about going off the pill. I wanted to fix the whole BP situation, but at the same time didn't know what my menstrual status was going to be like after going off of the one thing regulating it. Fortunately (or sadly depending on how you look at it), I didn't have to worry about getting rid of one method of birth control as my love life has been about as barren as the Sahara dessert.

So anyway, I went off the pill and after two months my blood pressure dropped and went back to normal. Problem solved, Sparks should no longer use the pill. But....

For the first two months, as the hormones slowly dissipated from my system I got my period. But the following month, nothing. The next month, again nothing. So come April I was despairing that I had returned back to the initial problem and had no idea how I was going to deal with it since the only real option for inducing periods is the pill. But then, toward the end of April--with no warning of any kind--the crimson wave arrived unnannounced. I was relieved. But the one thing about your period is that it's got a finite duration, and well...mine just kept going and going. Maybe it was because I skipped two months. I don't know. But when I hit day 12 of the never-ending period yesterday I was a tad freaked out. Normally a period lasts anywhere from 3-7 days. Fortunately, I woke this morning and it seems like the crimson wave has mostly abated. The end is nigh at last. I may go another few months with nothing, but at least I have the reassurance that I should eventually get it again. It just looks as though I'll never really know when to expect it...