The Dance of Death on Ice

Twitter Sonnet #47

Key rings about the neck open few doors.
But there will always be tacos for him.
He glides around us in line on shop floors.
His sorrows through Mexican polka dim.
Phantoms like to stretch across your hard drive.
But they'll help you remember when to eat.
With strange cats the day's outdoors are alive.
It's "The Cat Inside" diverts your defeat.
One can only colour for awhile.
Coyote cherished his few steps on air.
Fruit Roll Ups should not be kept on file.
But too few in food storage ever dare.
Names and shapes blur with tectonic rattle.
The ice rink is a realm of sex battle.

It was a magical morning for my 5000+ mp3 and flac playlist--I saw Amanda Palmer mention Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" in a tweet, and then it came up on my playlist after a track from the North by Northwest soundtrack. It was followed by Aretha Franklin's "Baby, I Love You" and The Doors' "Indian Summer". The juxtaposition, I think, is going to influence my thoughts for days.

A couple songs later, the theme for the second season of Ranma 1/2 came up and I was reminded to check YouTube to see if my favourite three episodes of the series had been uploaded in subtitled form yet and they had.

These episodes are, to me, together the most perfect example of Ranma 1/2's unique blend of martial arts, comedy, gender issues, identity issues, and teenage sexual anxiety. It's a story arc that exemplifies the classic Rumiko Takahashi formula--begin with a very weird and dangerous premise, and then have the characters get so caught up in their petty motives that they barely seem to notice their situation.

For those who've never seen the show, everything you need to know is pretty much covered in the episodes themselves--the only thing I'd tell you going in is that the small black pig you see at the beginning is actually a human boy named Ryoga. He changes into a pig when hit with cold water and back again when he's hit with hot water.

These were great quality uploads and look good at full screen;