phelps is da man

and so, Michael Phelps picks up his 7th gold (out of 7 events) at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia, breaking Ian (the Thorpedo) Thorpe's standing record of 6 gold medals in the 2001 world championship in Fukuoka, Japan. Phelps' awesome achievement also matches that of Mark Spitz, who collected 7 gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

what makes his feats even more remarkable is that, 5 of the those events were accomplished in world record times. phelps blitzed other swimmers in five individual events (200m and 400m IM, 100m and 200m butterfly, 200m free) and in 2 team relays (4×100m and 4×200m free). he would have easily made history by picking up his 8th gold in 4×100m IM relay had the US team not been disqualified earlier due to a teammate's miscue.

it is also strangely ironic that ian thorpe himself is currently being besieged by questions sparked by a recent L'Equipe (France) article that tagged him as the swimmer whose May 2006 drug test showed adverse analytical results. This report naturally incurred the outrage of Australian fans and officials, who overwhelmingly threw their support for the popular swimming icon.

anime update

the last few days have given me enough time to browse through the latest addition to my anime archives.

as advertised, Elf Princess Rane turned out to be rollicking romp. it's a type of anime feature that requires repeated viewings from a serious anime fan to appreciate the true dimensions of its chaotic, demented plotline and its zany, self-absorbed characters.

despite its short length (2 OVA episodes), it's well stocked with standard anime parodies — watch out for its adventure-crazy, reality-challenged protagonist (Takarada Go), his innumerable sisters, and this guy with the huge, wavy hair (he's a riot!) — and verbal puns that will make your head spin. Beware, though, you need to be a really fast reader (or a sharp listener if you opt for the english version) in order to keep up with what everyone is is saying. most of the characters here talk funny, some are just plainly weird.

i'm still working my way through All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku-Nuku (TV series). It's a fairly well-loved oldie (late 1990s i think) and just happens to feature the iconic voice of my favorite seiyuu Megumi Hayashibara as the super girl android who will do anything  to protect her 'brother.'

sadly though, i realized too late that this was not the original OVA (which was released in the early 1990s) that i had wanted to see all this time. in this version, they toned down the original antagonist of the series, Mrs. Ryonosuke, and added another baddie. this time, the focus is mostly on Nuku-Nuku's travails as she learns — with hilarious results — how to co-exist with her human (high school) classmates.

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UPDATE: below is a short video (youtube) encapsulating some of the memorable roles that have made megumi hayashibara a household name in Japan as well as any anime-loving household the world over… (by the way, the voice you hear in this mish-mashed clip is hers — she usually sings the theme songs featured in some of the series she appears in as well as in other anime shows)