Top Ten Things I Don't Care About

(10) Sports teams you like and how well they're doing
(9) The personal lives of celebrities/Michael Jackson's death
(8) How well you think you did on a test you took
(7) Why you have a rash
(6) Intimate details of your sex life
(5) What you think would be a better use of my time
(4) People that lived in the 1800s
(3) Your political views
(2) How busy/horrible your life is
(1) How awesome you think you are

Let me clarify for number two. Everyone needs to vent once in a while, but it's when it becomes extremely excessive that it's a pain in the ass.

Everyone has difficult days and it's good to get your feelings off your chest by talking to someone else. This does not mean that every time I see you I want to hear about how difficult your day was. This is by far the most annoying when your decisions are what caused the bad things to happen in the first place. You cheated on your boy/girlfriend and then they found out? I don't care. The job you applied for is really difficult? If it's worth talking about every day, maybe you should quit.

I like listening to what other people's problems are and helping them out, but remember undefined you - you need to do something in order to make your situation better.

These Fungi Will Kill Everything You Love

Female leads: Noir

I decided that I wanted to watch a new anime, the problem is that I hate a lot of it. I've been digging through the usual onslaught of shallow "save the princess with your awesome powers" types, the boring mecha fights, etc...

One of my problems with anime is that they continuously portray side characters, especially women, as being completely useless.

Let's take a look at two of the most popular bishounen anime in Japan - Naruto and Bleach. The female leads, Sakura and Orihime respectively, both have their moments in the sun, but are often the "useless one" in the fights. In addition, their powers are relegated to being "support" skills. Sakura has insane super-strength, but in battles she stays away from the opponents in case she needs to heal her allies. Orihime has a twist on the same power. Yawn.

Now compare this to cartoons in the United States, where female characters get important roles more often - Avatar:The Last Airbender has one of my favorite new heroines, Kitara. She's a fun-to-watch little feminist who decides she doesn't want to focus her water-bending abilities on healing. She wants to kick some ass. And she does.

In terms of anime, I've settled on Noir. It seems like it could be fun - a relatively simple girls with guns type of show, based on two assassins uncovering the past. I'm only a few episodes in, but it seems like it could go either way. I hope they can keep the main two characters, including the titular Noir, more than just a girl in a dress with a submachine gun.