Stand Alone Complex

So I borrowed the first two discs of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex from Phil-kun a while back, but I just now got around to finishing the second disc. At first (even though breaking the story down into a tv series likely makes it more digestible/understandable) I was particularly attached to the movie (which is not related to Stand Alone Complex except that they're based on the same manga; Innocence, which I have not seen, is the sequel to the movie) - the pace, the action, the direction. But these last two episodes (Idolatry and The Privileged) have won me over. Obviously, all the same (and then some) philosophical/ethical questions are raised in the series as in the movie, but the series is able to humanize every one in a way the movie couldn't. And may I add that in general I find the "Tachikoma Days" clips at the end of each episode sort of gratuitous and silly and not particularly interesting, but... the one after The Privileged. Oh man. There was something brilliantly sick and disturbing about it. Anyway, if you're into anime, check the series out if you haven't yet.

Also, there is a manga convention in December that I'm planning to attend (tagging along with Phil and his friends from Leeds). Of course I want to cosplay, so... I'm taking suggestions. ^_^ Ideas so far:

• Kujaku, from RG Veda by CLAMP


• Murasaki, from Bakuen/Combustible Campus Guardress


• Murakumo (of course), from Blueseed by Yuzo Takada


• Alielle, from El-Hazard


• Anthy, from Revolutionary Girl Utena (which I haven't seen, recommended by Phil)


• Haruko Haruhara, from FLCL (who carries around a bass guitar with which she beats people; haven't seen this either, recommended by Fuji)


• some other one that Fuji recommended that I can't remember

Notice that all these characters have purplish hair. Completely unintentional.

Unrelated to anime,
my fingers are dying. ><; I had this problem when I was a child where I held my pencil too hard, and as a result I developed this weird callus on the middle finger of my right hand. Actually, it was originally on my ringer finger, I think, but at some point I was told (possibly by another child) that I held my pencil incorrectly, and so I switched to holding it between my index and middle, rather than middle and ring. Anyway, it doesn't matter. The thing is, whichever finger it was on, it didn't seem quite like a "callus" to me, not the way I have calluses on my feet from dancing or had on my fingertips from viola. No this was like... my finger was deformed. After so many years, my ring finger looks pretty normal, and then, after years of mostly computer-usage, I could pretend my middle finger looked normal too. In fact, I barely thought about it. But now... since I hand-write all my work in Japanese class, homework, kanji drills, etc, my fingers are starting to suffer again. I won't give you any gruesome details, but I had to switch from middle finger to ring finger last night while I was studying and today during the test. Good thing I abandoned my hand vanity while at Princeton (it's hard to be vain about bleeding hands).
Now it's actually a quite interesting development, considering it from the "ways that Japan is changing me inwardly *and* outwardly" perspective.