Found this survey on the intarwebz. It was for anime shows but I adapted it to mangas. Cuz manga>anime all the time.

Pick 6 manga series you like:( manga survey )

[was going to go to bed but read instead. found this poem.]

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day.  Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel.  None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch.  And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones.  And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

    -- Elizabeth Bishop

Adam:  "You have died into life, and will die no more; you have only to keep dead. Once dying as we die here, all the dying is over. Now you have only to live, and that you must, with all your blessed might. The more you live, the stronger you become to live."
Mr. Vane: "But shall I not grow weary with living so strong? What if I cease to live with all my might?"
-Lilith, George MacDonald

 I read the funniest (and worst) Shakespeare play this last week: Troilus and Cressida. Think The Iliad, only even MORE petty, plus a highschool-caricature relationship, plus a guy who runs around calling people "lechers", "whores" and other wonderful names, completely randomly and often.
This was my favorite bit:

Patroclus: "Here comes Thersites."
Achilles: "How now, thou core of envy? Thou crusty botch of nature, what's the news?"
Thersites: "Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol of idiot-wirshippers, here's a letter for thee."
Achilles: "From whence, fragment?"
Thersites: "Why, thou full dish of fool, from Troy."
(Achilles goes off to read)
Patroclus: "Who keeps the tent now?"
Thersites: "The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound."
Patroclus: "Well said, adversity! And what need these tricks?"
Thersites: "Prithee, be silent, boy; I profit not by thy talk. Thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet."
Patroclus: "Male varlet, you rogue? What's that?"
Thersites: "Why, his masculine whore. Now, the rotten diseases of the south, guts-griping ruptures, catarrhs, loads o' gravel i'th'back, lethargies, cold palsies, and the like, take and take again such preposterous discoveries!"
Patroclus: "Why, thou damnable box of envy, thou, what mean'st thou to curse thus?"
Thersites: "Do I curse thee?"
Patroclus: "Why, no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinuishable cur."
Thersites: "No! Why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk, thou green sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal's purse, thou? Ah, how the poor world is pestered with such waterflies, diminutives of nature!"
Patroclus: "Out, gall!"
Thersites: "Finch-egg!"
(Achilles comes back)
Achilles: "My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted quite from my great purpose in tomorrow's battle......"

LOL I totally imagined Patroclus saying right there, through gritted teeth, "Don't you My sweet Patroclus ME!" lullllz.

I also love how after Thersites accuses Patroclus of being Achilles' boytoy, Patroclus is like, "Thou damnable box of envy!"
.....Not the best retort, that.

Got my mailing from SFBC today, and as usual it has prompted some same old thoughts:

Has anyone read anything by Jack McDevitt? He's sci-fi. I've been meaning to read his stuff for a LONG time but never have got around to it, partly because nobody I know has actually been like "OMG MUST READ JM!" Any opinions?

I really, really need to read Temeraire. Poke me repeatedly until I do.

Is it just me or has LucasBooks been a little obsessed with explaining random bits of Star Wars history lately? Eg Death Star, and now Millenium Falcon. Is nothing sacred? Can't we have a LITTLE mystery? Although I guess they're simultaneously doing new crazy stories like LotF, so I can't really complain. Hum. Can I? :P

 So I just got back from Borders, where I used my sweet educator status to use my sweet educator discount to buy sweet educational books. :D

I brought a rather epic list with me, just to make sure I had plenty in case they didn't have some of them. They didn't have quite a few of the books I wanted (wahhh Orthodoxy!) and some others, like Shakespeare plays, they didn't have the Dover Thrifts and I didn't want to spend money on the other editions. Almost got the Kalevala, but decided it was overpriced for a paperback that looked like it had been thrown around in the box a bit. Several others I thought were overpriced too.

BUT! I did score. I got How to Read Literature Like a Professor for cheap, as well as Hero Tales of Ireland. You should have seen me drool all over the mythology bookshelf. I probably spent about 15 minutes in front of it, deliberating. I ALMOST got the Bulfinch Complete Texts, in a shiny leather cover with shiny gold pages, for absurdly cheap, but I decided that I don't WANT a really nice Bulfinch Complete Texts. I want a paperback I can throw across the room and still be in good shape. Ye ken?

Anyway yeah, so only 2 books but it was still a pretty fun experience. I got to wear a sweet "proud educator" sticker all over the store.

Blarg I don't know why LJ-cuts haven't been working for me lately...very annoying. So sorry about the somewhat lengthy post. It's just more commentary and quotes for Brisingr, so if you don't want to be SPOILED on chapers 4-14, don't read!! :)

 VERY VERY MINOR SPOILERS FROM FIRST THREE CHAPTERS