Latest Comments

You are especially welcome. <3 Hopefully your husband will be able to share some of his insights too. It's often difficult to know what to say, because we haven't the comparison of knowing what you're hearing! Thanks for sharing and take care yourself. <3

Thank you so much for writing this. My husband is partially deaf in one ear, and this really helps me understand exactly what he is going through. We have been married for five years and I know this is hard on him. I am so glad you wrote this, and I will be sharing this on a couple of sites. Take care!

When we went to Corsica for holidays, we actually bought Asterix on Corsica, it was great fun reading and comparing it to the Corsica we saw around as ;-)

@kaazoom This is why I keep two Facebook accounts. One for personal uses and one for business purposes. :)

I'm definitely your woman for Welsh history! :D With St David's Day around the corner, I was thinking that I should have concentrated on all of that this week. I was just too busy writing about manga instead. >.< (Should work on that time management...)

As we speak, I'm writing another article about Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, the Welsh National Anthem. Better late than never.

Pontypridd is beautiful, even if I did nearly get killed last time I was driving up there. The Rhondda/Cynon roads do not led themselves well to getting home in a blizzard! Still, it's times like that you realise that you're a good driver. ;)

Some of my family are just down the road, in Blaenafon.

I love Wales. My son was at university in Treforest, Pontypridd. We have visited Wales many times. I've never been there for St David's day, perhaps I will one day. I knew nothing about St David until I read your article. it's strange, I have been thinking about finding out more about Welsh history. I saw a programme on TV recently and it talked a bit about Welsh history, I wanted to know more.

I think it depends also on your 'outdoor knowledge / skills' I have done some pretty 'wild' hikes alone but must say as I get older, I tend to be more careful.

Like Lissie, I have done both ;-) One point I would add is that, depending where you go it is simply safer / less annoying when you are a woman and travel NOT alone. In some cultures a woman that travels alone can be met with disbelief for example. On the other hand, most of the time actually, I had better experiences traveling alone as you are more likely to connect with people, locals and other travelers...

Kaazoom - Awww! Thank you. :D

Ember - I heard about that amongst US schoolchildren too. On the one hand, it couldn't have been pleasant for those listed within the home-made Death Notes (though these were highly unlikely to work like the original one); on the other, I think that the media really did blow things out of all proportion.

I've always thought that Death Note would make a great basis for discussing morality with young people (and adults too!). It's spawned some amazing debates on various forums over the years. There are so many layers to it, so each rewatch presents another nuance to muse over; but still seems to remain relatively simple to follow. There's some clever writing there (even if a few plot holes did occur along the way).

Should Death Note be considered mature viewing? I don't know. There's nothing heavier in there than what we see every day on the news. But it's all framed in such a way that we ask questions of this storyline, that are rarely asked about real life events.

I first read it at a time when my 12 year old nephew was engrossed in it. I found a much deeper story than he was reporting, so I think that younger minds just skipped over some of the huge philosophical implications. They're more interested in the action.

I know nothing about Manga, but I do enjoy reading your very well written articles.

I am grateful that I could offer some hope... This is a family disease, the whole family may be in denial. You can email me if you have any questions or just would like to "talk" about it.

Thank you very much!

:o I wasn't sure if you'd meant killing each other literally or not. I guess so. I'd originally thought it might have been an idiom I'd just never heard before. That's...not good. :/

The only thing "news worthy" things I'd ever heard related to Death Note were tons of 12 and 13 year old kids all over the US getting arrested, suspended, or expelled from school for having Death Note note books, and listing class mates or teacher's names in them. I think there was even a report about an online death note type of thing where people can go and list the names of people they want to die and how. :/ Soooooooooooo...

My sister was about 11 when she told me she wanted to watch the anime with me. I thought about it several times over before letting my sister watch it, but she was asking, and she's not a stupid kid-better on a computer than I am by far- and so if she wanted to read the manga or watch it, she'd access it on her own. So, I watched the anime with her, and then we just talked about what she was watching, what she thought of it and so on. It really sinks in how exposure to something like this, especially with all of the grey areas of right and wrong like you talked about, can really affect a child/young teen.

I know very well that once a child is exposed to the reality of the world there is no turning back, and Death Note carries some very heavy themes...political, moral, the reality of human nature and so on... which can be interpreted in as many ways as there are readers, I think. I've wondered before if Death Note should in be considered as containing mature content in some ways. I dunno though.

Thanks, Sheila :)

@sheila - yes I love how easy Zazzle make it. If ever I need any invitations, that would be my first port of call. Thank you.